Senator Ty Masterson,
I am most grateful for your response, as communication is essential in communities such as mine. Far to often our voices (citizens of color) are rarely listened too, let alone responded to. Far to often, we have to come out of character to get our point across. Your response, in the mist of your busy scheduling is indicative of the new politics you are establishing in the senate,
A politician who hears the pain and suffering of it's citizen population, and seeks to offer some resolve, rather than dissolve in silence.
You are definately among the Justice Keepers, who realizes that if we lean more to healing our communities, rather than implemented more punishment, we just may see children, teenagers, families, communites,smiles and laughter, rather than the ratchet frowns and disenchantment, A season of changing for the better.
If you save a man, you help his family-Juwanza Kunjufu-It takes a village to raise a child!
Thanks Again, You will not be forgotten ! Let the healing begin for some, continue for others.
Please allow me to share your great example with others.
Juanita Blackmon
Winners Concentrate On Winning!
Sista Girl Sista Girl have you heard!
Were striving for the Best...So Spread the Word.
--- On Thu, 3/19/09, Ty Masterson <Ty.Masterson@senate.ks.gov> wrote: From: Ty Masterson <Ty.Masterson@senate.ks.gov>
Subject: Re: Measure to Prohibit Insurance Premiums/Credit Scores SB206 & CINC Notification HB2303
To: sistagirl90210@yahoo.com
Date: Thursday, March 19, 2009, 10:43 AM Ms. Blackmon, Thank you for contacting me via email. Your views and perspectives are very important to me as I consider each issue. Due to the large volume of mail and e-mails that my office receives each day, unfortunately it is impossible to respond to each individual e-mail. However, my secretary prints and organizes the letter and e-mail correspondence each day so that I am able to keep abreast of your input on a daily basis. It is vital that those of us who represent you in Topeka hear and thoughtfully consider your opinions.
Thank you for taking the time and effort to communicate your thoughts and to help me to better understand the concerns of constituents within the 16th District and in the State of Kansas.
Respectfully,
Ty Masterson
Senate District 16
>>> juanita blackmon <sistagirl90210@yahoo.com> 3/18/2009 7:28 PM >>> Greetings Honorable Senator Karin Brownlee
This correspondence is share on behalf of bills Hb2303 CINC (Notification) and SB206 Insurance Premiums and Credit Scores-
Please be informed that both of this bills have had a tremendous impact on many families in Kansas, but no greater impact than the 193 African American Children in Sedgwick County from January 2006-June 2006 (Wichita Eagle-C. Woods) who were removed from their homes within a six month period, many without notification to kinship,
This definitely screams of an cultural intolerance. While it can be said, that many of these childrens homes may have been in despair and near ruins, It can also be said of the same of our District Attorney's Office-
Nonetheless they have a chance at redemption and repair, Not quite the same for many of these children or their parents.
I had the pleasure of meeting for dinner, one of the mothers of the 193,
This mother had (2) of her children snatched away, following a domestic violence dispute, of which the male went to jail, and remained there, not to bother the mother again.
So then why did the D.A office, feel it necessary to come days later with to remove the children? This mother was not charged with any crime, and certainly if they just wanted her to take some classes on parenting, domestice violence, This classes could have been taken while the children were still in her care. (The village concept should have been in place, or sought out, first and foremost, Despite all the right things that could have restored this family to a wholesome quality of life and dignity, was side stepped by an act of abuse of power, and this victim of domestic violence was beat up more by the District Attorney's Office, and DCCCA - one incident highly avoidable by the show of compassion, has snowballed into the mother's rights severed by a Judge in of this year 2009, not because she didn't fulfill the numerous classes and drug testing, of which she completed them all-and drug test cleared her each time,
I'm at a true lost for what has taken place here, but from what I have read and seen, It all boils down to Tolerance, Resources and Compassion.
I have spent a considerable time with this mother,, and around my own children, she is very loving and patient- she has been soft spoken despite her current reality, She is well deserving to mother her children, that is why I advocate for her today.
She is yet determined to regain custody of her children. This case has truly opened my eyes to the seriousness of our Child Welfare Agencies, who expect parents to be at 100%, or they will remove the children, However Foster Parents are leveling at 40-60% without drug testing, Yet the system would rather remove children to cultivate a foster care system, rather than invest the resources with the childrens own families to redeem, restore and replensish, which can level off the intensity of services within a 6 month to year period, or in extreme cases notify the next of kin-- vs. a continium of funds, resources provided to empower the Foster Care Families.
If Kansas is to live down it's reputation of the worst state to take children from their homes, Then we must move quickly to move the measure for a senate vote to eliminate generational vestiges to discriminatory practices, and intolerant attitudes.
Your support on this bill is crucial to families in despair, who need a hand reached out to help, instead of the previous hands reached out to hurt..
Your attention and care to both measures (CINC Notification HB2303 and SB 206 prohibiting Insurance Companies from profiting off the backs of the poor, by using credit scores when assessing premiums to receive a fair hearing and vote on the senate floor, is a great step toward healing families, and communities greatly impacted by financial strain.
Yours Truly in Equality & Justice
Juanita Blackmon-America's Thousand Points of Light #542
Millennium Moms Empowerment Network-"Justice Keepers"
Winners Concentrate On Winning!
Sista Girl Sista Girl have you heard!
Were striving for the Best...So Spread the Word. |
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