Ian Chandler

The importance of Local Policy

We get so caught up in general elections and federal government policies that we often forget what's going on at the local level wherever we live. This blog post is focused on reminding you of the importance of politics on the state and local level so you can see how policy may affect you first hand.

I Bet You Can’t

I bet you $5 right now that you couldn't name your district’s congressional representative. C’mon guys this should be easy! Ok, how about your county executive? Not sure? Well let's try the District Attorney? No? Ok, maybe the county Sheriff? I bet you couldn't name any of these people, now if you could, congratulations! I owe you $5. But, if you didn’t let us try a different group of names you may be able to guess. Who’s the Senate majority leader? Alright, who can tell me who the White House Press Secretary is? Last one now, this better be easy, who is the Vice President? You really should have gotten that one.

All Politics Matter

In that little betting game I just put you guys through, how many names from the local and state level were you able to name? 1 or 2 maybe? That's ok, most people don't typically know their state delegates or even representatives, not to mention the other local elected positions like sheriff. The thing is we often don't realize how much local politics affects our daily lives. And in many cases may affect our day to day more significantly than any person in the White House or on Capitol Hill. An example of politics on a local level are things like education, local business, coronavirus response, and several other issues that are left to the discretion of local officials. These items area big deal and they have so much to do with how we live our lives day to day. Keeping up with who your local politicians are and how they vote is important to understanding why your locality or municipality is the way it is. Don't Get so Riled up People get so angry and distraught arguing about national politics and disputes about legislators in Washington, but many times don’t even know who their own legislators

are. Folks are quick to get angry with the President or other politicians claiming them to be racist or homophobic but yet still allow local politicians in their region to enact racist and homophobic laws.

Change Starts Local

Change starts on the local level, when we as citizens choose to be engaged in what's happening in our communities rather than getting distracted with only national news we can begin to create change. Keep up with local elections, research who your representatives are, you may be surprised to find out they really don’t represent your values. You won’t know this until you get engaged in what's happening where you live. When you see red, white, and blue signs hanging around your hometown, search up the people who are on the campaign signs, see if they are who you want advocating for you.

Elections

Also don’t be lazy and forget to vote in the small elections because just because they may not be talking about it on TV doesn't mean it's irrelevant. Even small elections are a big deal because they are still putting one person in charge of a group of other people. So, before you get too fixated on national headlines about what's going on on Capitol Hill, check out what's going down at your county courthouse.

Conclusion

Local laws are a big deal! Ever wonder why laws in your county or city may be different than that of your friend that lives in another county? That has to do with local politics that was left to the decision of local lawmakers. Can you start fires in your county? What about fireworks? Does your county sell liquor ? These are all questions that are decided at a local level and I can assure you they are all very important in deciding how we all live our lives. This is why I urge all of you to stay involved in state and local government because local policy is what affects us most greatly.

 
 

Marc Hawk


The murder of Laquan McDonald took place on October 20, 2014, in Chicago, Illinois, when the 17-year-old young black man was fatally shot by Police Officer Jason Van Dyke. It was reported that Laquan was behaving erratically while walking down the street, and holding a folding knife. The internal police reports described the incident similarly and ruled the shooting justified and Van Dyke was not charged in the shooting at that time. The police released a dashcam video of the shooting thirteen months later, on November 24, 2015, it showed McDonald walking away from the police when he was shot. Police brutality is a national crisis. Police killed 1,147 people in 2017. Black people were 25% of those killed despite being only 13% of the population, Police officers are indicted in less than 1% of killings, but the indictment rate for non-officers involved in a killing is 90%, 27% of police killings in the United States in2013-2016 were committed by police departments in the 100 largest cities in the country. In1965 Alabama police attacked the Selma-to-Montgomery Marchers on "Bloody Sunday", in1991, Rodney King was beaten by four LAPD officers. The four officers were charged with assault with a deadly weapon and found not guilty, In 2009 Oscar Grant was fatally shot by a BART Police officer in California. Grant was unarmed and laying on his stomach while he was being murdered. The officer was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to two years of prison, and served 11 months. Police brutality has become a serious problem in the U.S. I am a 17 year old African American man. I fear for my life everyday I’m driving alone, every time I’m pulled over by the police, and even when I have an encounter with the police. A few weeks ago I told my mother how I didn’t want to have sons in this world. The effects of police brutality on society have been horrendous. Why hasn’t there been a stop put to this? Why does the government and many police departments allow this to continue happening? Why have riots and protest done absolutely nothing to bring an end to this? There are many questions that can be asked about this and most of them don’t have

an answer. I can’t answer these questions. I’m not sure if anyone will be able to ever answer these questions. Growing up my parents would always tell me how to handle an encounter with the police. My dad didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it. My dad taught my three brothers, two sisters, and me the importance of being respectful to authority figures. He showed us how to be patient, how to deal with the many challenges we will and have already faced, and how to strive for excellence in everything that we do in this life. I want to teach my children the same things my dad taught me. Police brutality is a very interesting, but confusing racial justice issue. In my career as a civil rights/wrongful prosecution lawyer I will try to solve these issues.