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The interview with Heather and Julia from Moms Demand Action

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The interview with Heather and Julia from Moms Demand Action

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Me: What is Moms Demand Action?

Julia: Have you ever heard of Moms against drunk driving?

Me: Yes.

Julia: It's very similar to that but it's in relation to guns instead of drunk drivers.

Me: How did the organization get started?

Julia: The organization was created by Shannon Watts in response to the Sandy Hook shooting that happened a few years ago.

Me: How big is your organization?

Heather: I believe we have chapters in all 50 states.

Me: That's pretty quick.

Julia: Mothers are angry. You guys are pretty young but you ma have kids of your own some day and, even if you don't, you'll have family members with children. The thought of them going to school one day and never coming back due to something as outrageous as an armed gunman going on a rampage in their school is something that should spring everyone into action.

Heather: But, if we're being honest, it shouldn't matter if you have children or not or have family members with kids. The thought of children dying over something that is easily preventable should be enough . Gun violence is the 4th leading cause of death for children 1 - 14, and the 2nd leading cause of death for young adults ages 15 - 24. The possibility of it being your child next is more real than many people believe.

Juila: Agreed.

Me: Any final thoughts?

Juila; Vote! These people are the ones that are representing us and choosing the right candidate can go a long way.

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Prosecutorial and Police Accountability 

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Prosecutorial and Police Accountability 

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All in all, this event was probably my favorite of the day. Probably because I already had background information on the topic and I was just adding information to what i already knew. I don't think I got to enjoy it much though. I had a pounding headache during this event so I was anxious to leave towards the end. But, I still really enjoyed it and I am grateful for the new information and insight I now have on the issue directly from the horse's mouth.

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Prosecutorial and Police Accountability P2

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Prosecutorial and Police Accountability P2

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The next speaker was Jeffrey Deskovic. Deskovic was falsely accused of the rape and murder of a fifteen year old girl from his high school while he was only sixteen years old. He served 10 years in prison for the crime only to be released due to DNA evidence combined with the confession of the real killer. At the time of the crime, Deskovic's DNA was not found on the victim but the prosecution had an alleged explanation for that. “The prosecution, in order to secure a win, even went as far to trash the victim, accusing her of sexual promiscuity to explain why DNA evidence found in the victim didn’t match me.” Said Deskovic. When he was enventually proved to be innocent and proved the prosecution messed up big time with his case, the prosecutors involved faced no justice due to something known as prosecutorial immunity. Prosecutorial immunity is the absolute immunity that prosecutors in the United States have in a prosecution and presenting the state’s case. Complete and utter malarkey. His story, to me anyway, was very similar to that of  Kalief Browder, the sixteen year old boy who served time in jail for a crime he didn't commit. They were both sixteen at the time they were sent to jail and were both forever changed by the prison system . I just wish Kalief could have received the same justice that Deskovic did. The last man was called Bill Batska. In 2008, Bill Batska was falsely accused of a crime he didn’t commit. Before this encounter, he had a good relationship with police officers. When he was taken in for questioning, he ran into Patrick Crow - an detective who was good at securing false confessions. False confessions are usually secured by coercion, duress, fear of violence, mental disorder, threat of long jail terms, misunderstanding of the situation or the law in general.

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This was my second event for the day. It was all about police officers and the DA being held responsible for their actions (which they so rarely are). The speakers for this event were Reverend Lewis, Damon Lewis, Jeffrey Deskovic, and Bill Batska. Rev. Lewis is a Former police officer from Atlanta and Charleston. She spoke on her former partner and how he  thought it would be fun to wake homeless people up by firing their guns at them. When, she reported this nothing happened to him. She also briefly talked about how her ex partner would try to get back at her by not answering/coming when she called for back up. She also spoke on policing data which she described as, "...not good data." She also stated that at the end of the year departments would make up numbers because they genuinely didn't know and weren't keeping track. Tragic. The next speaker was Damon Jones of whom is a former Corrections officer and served Law Enforcement for 28+ years. One interesting point he brought up was the fact of Police Officers resembling military units. He also mentioned something I wasn't aware of which is governments being able to sell Military equipment to police departments. This is a fact I wasn't aware of. I have noticed how militarized police units look, resembling something out of a dystonian young adult novel. He also mentioned police officers not living in the communities they serve which I find to be a big issue as well. If you're policing a community and trying to keep it safe then you should know and be friendly with the inhabitants of that community. That way there less likely to fear you and will call you in case of an emergency.

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Fueling The Clean Energy Revolution - Food and Water Watch Continued P3

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Fueling The Clean Energy Revolution - Food and Water Watch Continued P3

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My overall general feelings for this event were kind just whatever. I understand that fracking is an issues and we should be doing things to prevent it but it's not something that I actively fight against. I know, I 'm apart of the problem. Maybe if Chad had been a more interesting teacher or if I had known more about the topic going in then I would have found it more interesting. There were some people in their who were very passionate against fracking. Like, they had whole discussion and were using environmental terms  I had to google. There was also a guy in their completely passed out and snoring and I found it hilarious. But, when he woke up, he was offering a lot to the discussion in terms of solutions.

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Fueling The Clean Energy Revolution - Food and Water Watch Continued P2

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Fueling The Clean Energy Revolution - Food and Water Watch Continued P2

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Chad also brought up the Williams Pipeline which is a proposed expansion to an existing Williams fracked gas transmission system that would be about 26 inches wide and stretch about 23 miles. This would monumental damage to the environment including: our water quality, marine animals (plus seagulls), and the air quality as well. The pipeline would greatly effect working class families living along the shoreline. This plays back into a topic we discussed in class called environmental racism.  We then went onto discuss ways we can combat this. The issue of Charity vs. Justice was then brought up. Chad described it as, "...not just talking the talk but walking the walk. A blonde lady, I didn't get her name either, said something that really resonated with me. She said, "Sending a message with our dollar bills. It can’t just be all talk.” Solutions were offered as well such as solar power, wind power, and bio mass.

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Fueling The Clean Energy Revolution - Food and Water Watch

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Fueling The Clean Energy Revolution - Food and Water Watch

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This was the first event I officially attended. I came in late so I didn't get the speaker's name. He was a hippie looking guy. Either Native American or Indian if I had to guess.  He described himself as, "...unemployed and out of college..." He also mentioned that this was his first time doing something like this which, given context clues, I assumed he meant a social justice forum. If I had to guess his name, i'd assume it was Chad.  If were being honest, the topic didn't particularly interest me. I'd heard of fracking but had no idea what it was. Fracking is the process of injecting liquid at high pressure into subterranean rocks, boreholes, etc. so as to force open existing fissures and extract oil or gas. Pretty messed up for the environment.

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On April 22nd, I attended a social justice forum at Pace University Law School. At function, I attended two events: Fueling The Clean Energy Revolution - Food and Water Watch and Prosecutorial and Police Accountability. Along with speaking for representatives for MDA (Moms Demand Action). In all honesty, the  date of the function came at a bad time for me. It was the day after this big party we have on campus called Quad Jam so I was pretty tired during the Forum. I don't believe it effected my research to much but maybe if the party hadn't been the day before, I would have a slightly easier time collecting research and data.