Stop State Referendum Racism, Classism, Heterosexism…

(As we approach Nov 4, from a speech I gave on 9/28)

We have been hearing the drum beats of the proponents of a Connecticut Constitutional Convention conning the public that by Voting YES to the Constitutional Ballot question you will be giving a voice to the People and not to the Special Interest groups or politicians.  Well let’s be honest folks; that’s simply pure Bull Shit!!  The true fact is that those saying Vote YES to the Constitutional Ballot question ARE ONLY THE Special Interest Groups such as the Family Institute Of Connecticut as well as Conservative Republicans!  And why do the special interests and Religious zealots want to CON Connecticut Voters into voting yes to the Constitutional Convention? So they can put into place a State Referendum process that will STRIP Blacks, Latino’s, Asians, Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming people, Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals, workers and migrants of their BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS of employment, housing, migration, marriage, jobs and justice to name just a few!  Voting yes to a constitutional convention is NOT giving a voice to the people but rather a means to institute State REFERENDUM RACISM, State REFERENDUM CLASSISM, State REFERENDUM NATIONALISM and State REFERENDUM HETEROSEXISM!

Historically we have seen the State Referendum process used to institute State Racism in Ireland through their 2004 Citizenship Referendum ~ we have seen the State Referendum process used to institute State Racism in Michigan through elimination of Affirmative action in 2006 ~ we have seen Arizona, California, Colorado and Florida use the State Referendum process to impose the bigotry and Institutionalized Racism of the dominant culture on ALL non English speaking minorities ~ we have seen states like Mississippi, Utah and Oklahoma institutionalize STATE HETEROSEXISM by implementing a State Referendum banning MARRIAGE EQUALITY for same sex couples!

HERE IN Connecticut THE PEOPLE MUST say NO to a Constitutional Convention! We must say NO to a vehicle that will simply be used to institutionalize and Nationalize a dominant culture, state racism and state heterosexism!

Is our system of justice and politics broken?  Hell yeah, HOWEVER it is NOT the Family Institute NOR the Religious right that feels this injustice of a broken political system!  It is the mothers and the struggling families who live in our urban cities who are ignored in their cries for ending violence, access to jobs and a live wage, quality education for their children, an end to racial profiling by the police, by the politicians and by our justice system!  It is the migrants who come to our State to seek a better life, as did many of our ancestors!  It is the queers and trannies that are denied their basic rights to Education, Employment, Marriage.  It is the poor in Connecticut that are denied Universal Health Care and Housing. These are the people who feel every single day the inequities of an unjust political system, NOT the Family Institute of Connecticut or the Governor!

Without a doubt we most definitely need to have a vehicle to directly petition our government BUT I can guarantee you this vehicle IS NOT through a Constitutional Convention but instead to Vote No to stop this charade in its tracks.

To change our system I encourage everyone to read the words of Ammon Hennacy who said that we must use our bodies as our ballot! And we must cast it in behalf of the poor around us every day of our lives.   We MUST not use our Vote to assign responsibility to other people to do things. Each of us MUST accept responsibility and see to it that something gets done; and not some elite group of politicians, privileged few or religious zealots attending a Constitutional Convention! Our bodies must be our ballots to effect change NOT A CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION of ELITES!

And after struggling with our comrades, if we finally feel that our voices and our bodies are not succeeding in effecting a just government than we should follow what the Declaration of Independence tells us to do in those cases.  The declaration tells us that

We are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable Rights. Those among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among society, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, and that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it and to institute new Government.

The fires of the Reichstag have only begun to burn brightly in this country.  And as Ammon has said, it is all of our responsibilities here today and at so many other gatherings to extinguish these fires before they engulf our society.  The answer is not in a Constitutional Convention where we delegate our responsibilities to Special Interests but in the streets, in the homes, in the schools and MAKING our voices heard and our bodies visible at the tables of power that are used to keep us oppressed and our voices and needs silenced! Peace!