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TUESDAYS WITH TOOMEY- ALLENTOWN
JUNE 25, 2018 WEEK 76
The Allentown Tuesdays with Toomey activists have been working overtime for the past week. In addition to the regular Tuesday protest at Sen. Toomey's Allentown office, they have been protesting the zero tolerance immigration policy every day! The depth of disappointment, frustration, sadness, and lack of humanity from Trump, many Republican members of Congress, and citizens who feel it is in the best interest of our ...country to separate families calls us to protest every day. A collective letter was signed by the activists and given to Toomey. The letter urged Toomey to do the following:
Demand a transparent and full accounting of the consequences of zero tolerance policy,e.g, how
many migrants are here in the Lehigh Valley, who is handling them, where are they located, what legal and social services resources do they have access to?
Ensure that the government observe due process of the law, as mandated by our Constitution
Visit detention center(s) as a direct witness and advocate for the local press and citizens' groups to be given access.
Our speaker today was Fritz Walker who is a board member of CeaseFirePA and state coordinator for Fair Districts PA. Fritz informed the activists how PA House member Ron Marisco (R.) held days of hearings on gun violence that resulted in at least four state bills on gun violence that will move to the House for consideration. Unfortunately, Speaker Mike Turzai called for a legislative recess and stopped the forward movement of the legislation. Fritz stated that this was a bad move for getting bills enacted that save lives and urged activists to contact their state representatives to vote for the bills in the Fall. He also informed the activists about the latest on gerrymandering in the state. Senate Bill 22 would have reformed the current congressional districts and it seemed like all was well until Sen. Aumont (R.) introduced an amendment to the bill requiring justices and judges be elected from regional districts instead of statewide. Because of Aument's amendment, support was lost for Bill 22, however it gained enough support to send it to the House with the Aument amendment as part of the bill. Fritz urged activists to call state Sen. Browne to tell him that he shouldn't have voted for the Aument amendment, which should have been a separate bill. It is also very important that Governor Wolf be reelected to stop unfair districts. Fritz wanted the activists to know that Fair Districts PA won't give up working to make voting districts fair and nonpartisan. Again, since the Legislature is on recess, gerrymandering reform is stalled. There were about 35 activists today, and there were many, many motorists who beeped their car horns in support of our protest.
We are in a dark time. When things feel overwhelming, just remember if Rep. John Lewis can keep fighting and hold onto hope, we can too. And we will. The only people who are going to save us are us. #goodtrouble
