General John Parker is the Keynote Speaker at today’s Fatherless Day Rally, in Springfield. Parker is working to reform the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) when it comes up for reauthorization in 2010. The VAWA was signed into law in 1994 by then-President Bill Clinton and provides money to the states to assist in the investigation and prosecution of crimes against women. Parker believes that despite its good intentions, VAWA's impact has been the break-up of families and has directly impacted him, by preventing him from seeing his son. "I'm not asking to get rid of VAWA," Parker said. "We need VAWA, but VAWA is broken."
2 comments:
Thanks Emerge. The rally was a success and there was representation from all over the state, except Peoria. I don't know why we don't get involved with matters that affect us the most. I was really embarred because people thought they weren't going to have people ther from their home towns and figure I would have a bus load. It ended up being the other way around.
I becomin a little disenfranchised with our people and their state of complacency. Do they not want things to change for the better here? Or, are they content with quality of life they have, or the lack of. If this is so, then I wish they would stop complaining. They won't do anything to change our community for the better nor will they help the people who are trying to help them to make things better. Most just want to complain.
You'd have like the speech I gave also, I tied it in with Juneteenth.
I find the lack of involvement and subsequent complacency disturbing as well. I know it is difficult to continue to put yourself out there in support of a group of folks who don't support you.
There was a Juneteenth event here in Peoria a few years back, I think it was Sharon Reed who produced it.
The Juneteenth celebration could tie in nicely with Steamboat Days.
Imagine a half day celebration, with a skit depicting this:
"Dress was also an important element in early Juneteenth customs and is often still taken seriously, particularly by the direct descendants who can make the connection to this tradition's roots. During slavery there were laws on the books in many areas that prohibited or limited the dressing of the enslaved. During the initial days of the emancipation celebrations, there are accounts of former slaves tossing their ragged garments into the creeks and rivers to adorn clothing taken from the plantations belonging to their former 'masters'. "
...That is powerful image, and our youngsters could certainly stand to learn a lesson or two about how important dressing a certain way and carrying yourself a certain way is. The Steamboat and the River in the background with costumes borrowed from the Historical Society...
Peoria has so many opportunies to be more inclusive, but we keep letting it slip past.
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