Hope in Dark Times
Friends and Constituents:
I hope you are all well. This week, I’ve been focusing on responding to horrific events at the local, national, and international level.
Locally, the district was shocked by a shootout and massive manhunt in Woodruff Place early Monday morning. Though details are still emerging, it appears that an off-duty Anderson Police Department officer brought his brother-in-law to engage in some vigilantism after his car was stolen. Large numbers of IMPD officers responded to news of the shootout, two schools were put on lockdown, and a bullet went through a wall into a bedroom where an 8-year-old girl was sleeping.
I have received dozens of emails, calls, and social media messages asking me why the alleged vigilantes were not arrested on the scene of the crime. From the information I have in front of me right now, I tend to agree that that would have been the correct course of action here. The public was put at risk, and massive amounts of taxpayer money were spent due to an escalation that never should have happened. I’ve spoken with Chief Bailey of the IMPD and with Prosecutor Ryan Mears about this and will continue to stay in touch. I’ve also shared my concerns with the Assistant Chief of the Anderson Police Department, Norman Rayford. He can be reached at nrayford@cityofanderson.com in reference to IMPD case # IP25-043038.
Thanks very much to the constituents who have reached out. Watch this space, as I will continue to push on this issue.
Nationally, our country is rapidly sliding off the rails into authoritarianism.
President Trump is rapidly creating a system whereby even if Congress appropriates funds for a cause, Trump can unilaterally use executive orders to prevent these funds from being spent. In Indiana, this has resulted in cuts to such entities as the Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana and AmeriCorps, with more cuts planned.
President Trump is illegally arresting and deporting people for the content of their speech and ignoring Supreme Court orders. Due Process, the right of anyone accused by the government of wrongdoing to go before a judge to plead their case, is being rapidly eroded.
President Trump is defunding, engaging in spurious lawsuits against, and otherwise hampering the press (unless journalists sing his praises and give him softball questions to answer).
All of us in the United States have a shared interest in the rule of law and a system of checks and balances. It doesn't matter whether we are libertarians or socialists, conservatives or progressives. We can certainly agree or disagree with any given politician’s plans and proposed policies. We can fight politically over the future direction of our country. We can work to persuade our neighbors and fellow Americans about the best course of action to move forward. But these illiberal, authoritarian behaviors by the Trump administration must be intolerable to all of us across the political spectrum.
As the British colonists realized in 1776: “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed”, and thus “when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism”, the people have a right and a duty to resist this overreach.
This is because when one political force is not kept in check with elections, a free press, free speech, and a balance of powers, that force tends to become entrenched and become extremely difficult to dislodge from control of a country. Look at Hungary, Russia, China, Venezuela - there are examples from across the political spectrum. Those of us who love liberty and democracy must insist that President Trump turn back from the path to despotism.
Tonight at 6:30, I will be joining a prayer action at Senator Todd Young’s office on 96th Street to ask the Senator to raise his voice in defense of the Constitution he is sworn to serve. Please join me if you can!
Internationally, the people of Palestine are facing an intentional campaign of mass starvation as a weapon of war. Amnesty International and a United Nations Special Committee have both held that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people. This week, a former IDF leader in Israel warned that his country was now “killing babies as a pastime”. “Israel is on the way to becoming a pariah state, like South Africa was, if we don’t return to acting like a sane country.”
Thousands of children are currently starving to death in Gaza, as Israeli ministers have openly discussed wanting to do since at least August as part of a campaign to “conquer” and “cleanse” the area, “destroying everything that’s left of the Gaza Strip.”
This is a blatant and open commission of ethnic cleansing and genocide, paid for and supported by our tax dollars. And now, according to the UN, 14,000 young children are at risk of joining the 600 Palestinians killed in the past four days by bombs and airstrikes and the dozens of children who have starved to death this year.
I am calling on all people of conscience to stand up and insist that our elected officials push for an end to this genocide and a full weapons embargo against Israel.
And please join me Saturday to insist that Israel and its US backers STOP STARVING GAZA.
Though the political and economic trends are dark and growing darker, I remain hopeful because of the brave, compassionate, and freedom-loving constituents I represent. We continue growing in our strength, and our chorus of voices can and will drown out the hate. We simply need to continue organizing and continue fighting for a better world. I’m grateful for the opportunity to serve and fight alongside you all.
In love and solidarity,
Jesse