Last week, I was in Memphis at a rally to support Justin J. Pearson’s campaign for the U.S. House seat in Tennessee’s 9th district.
Justin is a fighter. He's an organizer. He is the son of a preacher and a teacher who worked themselves out of minimum wage jobs to provide for their five sons. He is the right person for the job.
Long before Justin ever stood on the floor of the Tennessee House fighting for dignity, he grew up in Southwest Memphis, the most polluted area of the city. He saw firsthand the effects of growing up in a neighborhood that everyone had written off — the rising cancer rates, the children almost born with asthma.
So, when an oil company planned to push a crude oil pipeline through a historically Black neighborhood, putting an entire community's health and drinking water at risk, Justin refused to stay silent.
He went door to door. He packed public meetings with neighbors. And against all odds, together with the people of this incredible city, they forced two, not one, but two billion-dollar corporations to abandon their polluting projects.
Later, when Justin demanded action on gun violence and the Republicans responded by expelling him from office — the people sent him right back to serve in the Tennessee House.
Justin's story has never been just about one man. It has always been the story of Memphis. And this election is the latest chapter of that lineage.
After the Supreme Court weakened one of the Voting Rights Act's most important protections, Tennessee’s 9th was the first district that was torn apart after that decision — Tennessee's only majority-Black congressional district.
Republicans in this state and across the country want to overturn everything that Black political power has made possible, because when Black Americans had their right to vote protected, we established healthcare, Medicare, Medicaid, the Clean Air Act.
They know that when Black Americans exercise political power, they deliver progress for every American, and they believe that they could weaken the political power of the Black community here.
Instead, they awakened a movement.
This is what it's going to take, because we saw the flares have been going up. The call has gone out. And people are starting to answer the call.
They think they drew a Republican district. What they don't know is that they just woke a lot of people up.
We are here to knock every door and make those holding that pen of injustice, carving up that map, regret the day they ever dipped the ink in the well.
Will you chip in a $5 contribution to Justin’s campaign and help send a fighter to Congress?
Pa’lante,
Alexandria
 |
 |
 |
 |
Email us: speak@ocasiocortez.com
This email was sent to shepp1111.milanonline@blogger.com. Email is the most important way we keep in touch with people like you, so thank you for reading to the end. Small donors like you keep us going. To contribute via check, please address to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for Congress, PO Box 680080, Corona, NY 11368.
Paid for by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for Congress
No comments:
Post a Comment