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I Agree..it is Hard to Recognize this Country
By lindamuralidharan on 2015-09-18 23:01:37
[caption id="attachment_7557" align="aligncenter" width="768"]
ow
Judge Carole Y. Taylor[/caption] [caption id="attachment_7558" align="aligncenter" width="450"]
court room[/caption] I agree it is hard to recognize
this country sometimes...although I don't think I say this for the same reasons that Republican candidate Scott Walker has
said this. I am not talking about a variety of social changes that may or may not be beneficial. I am talking about
governmental changes that affect the daily fabric of life for too many Americans. These Americans are basically the
struggling, working poor, both black and white. I first heard about such counterproductive practices in the book, "Calla
Lilies: A True Story of Four Sisters and Their Struggle to Survive Abuse, Addiction and Poverty in America," by Kay
Corbett. This white woman writes about her dysfunctional white family from the perspective of the prime enabler of the
group. She married a man who was not totally honest and whom she eventually left while living in Virginia. He left her to
care for 3 of his 5 daughters from a previous marriage and while he returned to the South where he had left the other two
daughters in various types of living situations such as abusive foster homes. The woman, Kay, tries for a long time to be a
really good mom, step mom, to the three in Virginia and does a lot for them and they adore her. However, it becomes logical
eventually to return them to their father's family in the south. All of those people are dysfunctional and poor at making a
living and poor at budgeting and several are heavily involved in substance abuse which eventually sucks the five girls into
addiction as they become adults. Kay sends them advice and money over the years, and they, in turn, communicate with her
during all their various ups and downs. I want to shorten up this long story. One or another at any given time is arrested for
DUI or not having her registration or license current. Sometimes one or more of them wrecks a car and despite injuries all
survive into middle age. They sometimes have decent but low paying jobs. When they don't have enough money to pay the
rent and fix up the car to get to work they miss payments on the fines that grew out of the arrests. The fines then increase as
penalties and interest are added. Pretty soon one or the other is jailed for failure to pay and she loses her job. This happens
multiple times and to more than one of the women, while one or more of the others gets involved with abusive partners and
there are several children born among them. Sometimes other relatives help out, but life is chaotic for all and when one or
the other is ready for substance abuse treatment there are only poor quality programs available and often these are far away
from their children. Some have difficulty affording medical care for illnesses of one kind and another. I was shocked when I
read about the revolving door of jail and fines and attempts at gainful employment and the times the jobs were lost because
of their being jailed. These women are responsible for some of their poor choices, poor choices that often are made by
people who are tangled up in various family pulls and tugs without any clear direction or role models that suggest finishing
high school and enrolling in a trade school or local college is wise and necessary. However, the system of local government
that took as much from them as it could, put them in debtors prison almost at the drop of a hat, and provided minimum
services if any for a person to learn to make better choices and get on their feet.....that system of government is equally to
blame for people trapped in poverty. I certainly thought this was a symptom of the backward looking and cruel way southern
states treat the poor and underclass. And in a way I was right since the counties I lived in in more progressive states had all
kinds of activists who would have been on this in a minute. Court watching by the League of Women Voters, civil rights and
settlement house groups that intervene to help individuals but also to improve the system prevented this extreme type of
exploitation. Which is not to say there weren't injustices in the local courts...based on race and income mostly but also some
foolish laws and occasional incompetent judges. However, most abuses are brought to the attention of the public in these
areas and often there is enough political will to correct them. Some of us have noticed in recent years in many jurisdictions
that there are too many "add ons" to initial fees for documents or for infractions. It's just that it has not risen to the
scandalous level of Ferguson, and does not depend so much on turning regular "serve and protect" police into collection
agents. I do believe that one of the most egregious southern states in this regard ....[ have forgotten which one....put an end to
the debtor's prison practice a year or two back and has commanded local districts to use the more usual approaches of
community service when fines aren't paid although interest may indeed accrue. I only even noticed the news article because
I had read this book and the systematic government abuse was fresh in my mind. Next we all learn that this is a major part of
institutional racism in Ferguson, Mo., and not just something that happened to people in a book over previous decades. The
city depends on the fines and fees from the arrests to run the city. Thus police officers are literally "revenuers" to use that
old term for the resented Federal agents who expected you to pay taxes on your moonshine. In Ferguson, we now have
statistics that show black people...partly of course because they are the most economically vulnerable in the first place and
partly because they are black..are arrested for minor offenses at a higher rate than white residents, and the particular judge in
charge often excuses his white friends and neighbors while holding the black citizens to the letter of the law. [caption
id="attachment_7559" align="alignright" width="600"]
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legislature, bills passed in Mo. legislature following activism in Ferguson[/caption] It is not being widely enough reported
that this practice of funding small city government on the backs of the poor is widespread. In Ferguson, it is made further
despicable by the hypocrisy of the judge who, himself, owed $172,646 in back property taxes. Wonder how many police
officers could be funded with that money. One? one and a half? two? Ronald J. Brockmeyer has since been removed from
office...partly as the fall out from the investigations and activism that followed the shooting death of Michael Brown. In the
October/September issue of "Mother Jones" magazine, investigator Jack Hitt reports that many small towns in the heartland
are using police to raise the revenue that runs their government. In other words, this is an increasing and suspect
phenomenon. Of course, some of us have been noting for a long time that there are problems in how we fund local services
which depend largely on property and local business taxes. For example, school districts in some states have suffered from
the unequal distribution of high value properties. One school district may contain several lucrative shopping malls that can
be taxed to bring in a great deal of revenue. Next door may be a school district with mainly private residences or a
smattering of smaller and less lucrative businesses. Thus one school district can provide a better education than the one next
door unless the latter is heavily subsidized by state and/or federal funds. Courts in recent years have often determined that it
Fe%
FRESHLY SQUEEZED
For Your Daily Legal Enjoyment!
is the responsibility of states to do just that. Meanwhile, there appears to be a
very disturbing trend that is affecting the quality of our democracy and the quality of our life in these United States. It does
not look like the America I thought I lived in. Even though I know we are a nation of control freaks, and that we have too
many laws. I am not thrilled with the type that says you cannot park your recreational vehicle in your driveway or section of
your property. Be that as it may, I was not prepared for some laws that have been passed in order to have a reason to fine
people and add to the city coffers. Hitt reports that the following are illegal in Pagedale, Missouri: hedges more than three
feet tall, basket ball hoops or a wading pool in front of the house, or a dish antenna in front of the house. You cannot walk
on the road if there is an available sidewalk. You must walk on the left side of the road and on the right side of a crosswalk.
Barbecues are not allowed in front yards and alcoholic beverages are not allowed within 150 feet of a barbecue. Kids cannot
play in the street, pants worn in public cannot ride below the waist, cars must be parked within 500 feet of a street light at
night, and window blinds are regulated to neat appearance and good repair. [caption id="attachment 7563" align="alignleft"
width="300"] eS ma Pagedale, MO, City Hall[/caption] I keep hearing so many
people stating or implying that poor people are poor because of lack of effort. And yet over and over we see documented
situations that work against a person's efforts if one is somehow behind the eight ball to begin with. Recent research has
further documented anecdotal evidence of the several ways in which poverty damages a person's learning abilities and
ultimate capacity to seek wages in fields that pay well. Certainly some states need to outlaw these practices of jailing people
because their fines build up. Too much money is spent on incarceration and the individuals lose jobs and their ability to pay
even legitimate fines. Many pronged attacks are needed to open the paths out of poverty for so many people. Certainly
addressing this type of institutional racism and classicism in one of the prongs. Studying this type of unjust local
administration of city government and the local criminal justice system will help some people get over the notion that the
majority of poor people...black or white...wish to remain poor. I would like to work toward redesigning an America that
matches what my vision of it is...with or without Scott Walker's help. I think better ways of funding city services and maybe
even consolidating many small municipalities into unified units of government might bring efficiences. [caption
be:
3
id="attachment_7564" align="alignright" width="300"] Ferguson, MO, City
Hall[/caption] [caption id="attachment_7560" align="alignleft" width="200"] [/caption]
