El Dorado County Rallies for Equal Justice and Black Lives Matter Calendar El Dorado County Rallies for Equal Justice and Black Lives Matter June 17, 2020 Cameron Park Protest Rally Sunday, June 14, 11am Click here for more photos & information Stevante Clark walks through a crowd of demonstrators gathered at the Cameron Park for Justice event Sunday outside the Cameron Park Library. The Mountain Democrat reported that approximately 250 people attended the rally that was organized in part by Ponderosa High School grad Gagan Choongh in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Placerville Courthouse protest, June 3, 2020 Protest artwork in Placerville honoring the promise of America's core principles. Read more here. Photos courtesy of Mountain Democrat Demonstrations continue Click here for more photos “If we want to bring about real change, then the choice isn’t between protest and politics. We have to do both.” ... President Obama We need leaders who create policies that support social and economic justice and are willing to do the hard work to ensure those policies are implemented with thoughtfulness and understanding of how to create change within communities. Leaders who are bold, caring and courageous are needed at the local level, state and federal levels. This is our moment to elect those new leaders and set our nation on a new, positive and constructive course. Let’s get the job done! Here's a list of actions to take TODAY: Check your voter registration status and/or register to vote today! Ask your friends to check their voter status and/or to register to vote today! The EDC Democrats have endorsed four outstanding candidates. Learn more about our endorsed candidates and get involved in helping them get elected. Click Here TODAY AT 6PM: Census Outreach Phone Bank - El Dorado County is woefully behind in completing the census. Every Wednesday night from 6 - 8pm throughout the summer, we are calling people across Northern California to remind them to fill out their census forms. Click here for more information & to register Rallying Support for MLK’s Promised Land ... Essay by Donna Skelton, retired El Dorado County teacher & technical writer It has been 52+ years since Martin Luther King, Jr. lifted the spirits of 1300 sanitation workers who were striking for more humane working conditions and a livable wage in Memphis, Tennessee. He raised them up with this inspiring image: “I’ve been to the Mountain top. . . .I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land.” (April 3, 1968) Reverend King ended that speech with these fateful words: “Like any man, I would like to live a long life. . . But I’m not concerned about that now. . . . I’m happy tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man.” The day after glimpsing the Promised Land, Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. was fatally shot by a lone gunman. Five years earlier, at the March on Washington, MLK, Jr. had described the Promised Land in his “I Have a Dream” speech (August 28, 1963). His “Promised Land” was the one promised in our Constitution, where “All men, Black men as well as White men,” would be guaranteed the “Unalienable Rights of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” MLK’s “Promised Land” was one that offered “the riches of freedom and the security of justice.” JUSTICE! THE SECURITY OF JUSTICE! It has been 57 years since that March on Washington when protesters pleaded for justice! 57 years! Where, oh where, is the Promised Land? I see a glimmering of the Promised Land —finally—in unexpected places, in our local communities. Protests in support of the “Black Lives Matter” movement have occurred recently in Cameron Park in Placerville, and in El Dorado Hills. When I first heard about the “Black Lives Matter” protest at the Cameron Park Library, I was, quite frankly, incredulous. I thought, “A protest at the Cameron Park Library? That makes no sense! It’s closed! The whole community center is closed due to COVID-19. It’s in a quiet residential neighborhood with little traffic. If a protest is meant to raise consciousness, whose consciousness will it raise? No one is at the community center-library!” Like a tree that falls in the forest, there would be no one present to witness the event—except other protesters whose consciousness is already raised. It seemed pointless to attend, but I did, expecting to be joined by maybe 10 other people. I was STUNNED to see HUNDREDS of local residents assembled in the library parking lot, holding signs in support of racial equality. The main speaker was Stevante Clark, the brother of Stephon Clark who was killed by police in his grandmother’s backyard. Preceding Stevante at the microphone were community leaders such as Frank Porter (Vice-Chair, El Dorado County Democratic Party), Felicity Carlson (Board member Cameron Park CSD), Daniel Stephenson (Sierra Foothills Young Democrats), Mike Saunders via written statement (Board member, Georgetown Divide PUD & EDC Democrats Vice-Chair), Victoria Modesto and Dawn Wolfson (El Dorado Progressives). Gagan Choong (Ponderosa HS graduate & Cameron Park resident) who initiated this event with the help of 3 other young activists (Paige, Lindsey, & Donovan) also addressed the enthusiastic crowd. Most remarkable, in my mind, were the hundreds of “ordinary folks” who showed up to support a young man who is grieving the loss of his brother. Here was a community of people who just wanted to wrap their love around the bereaved Stevante who has suffered injustices in a world that seemed not to care—until NOW! In the recent killing of George Floyd, we saw with our own eyes the brutality that has plagued many Black communities. THAT flipped a switch in our oblivious brains. THAT got our attention! The look of bland indifference on the face of officer Derek Chauvin as witnesses pleaded with him to let Floyd breathe. . . A look that said to witnesses, “What are you looking at?” as if the murder of a man rendered helpless by police restraints was no more significant than Chauvin drinking his morning coffee. A taunting look that asked, “What are you going to do about it?” Perhaps he was annoyed by the witnesses, as he might be by a fly buzzing around his head, distracting him from the murder at hand. THAT look roused a nation! In all 50 stars, people have stood up to protest police brutality. If I could say anything to Derek Chauvin, now charged with second degree murder, I would say, “You are a puny racist who tried to make himself look big by slaying a dragon with a choke hold. You picked the wrong dragon, fool!” In mistaking a gentle giant to slay as his dragon, Derek Chauvin roused the dragon in all of us who have no tolerance for barbarism. Hundreds of thousands of incensed citizens have stood up and said, “NO MORE POLICE BRUTALITY!” The killing of unarmed Black men and boys has ignited a flame that burns hot for justice. Justice for George Floyd Justice for Stephon Clark Justice for Trayvon Martin Justice for Eric Garner Justice for Tamir Rice to name a few. And let us not forget...Justice for Breonna Taylor, a young woman who was shot by police who allegedly entered her home without warning. The searing need for justice In a Promised Land flows through the veins of communities, large and small, in all 50 states and around the world. It even flows through the quiet suburbs of El Dorado Hills, Placerville, and Cameron Park. A river of justice is carving through a glacier of silence, demanding change: The kind of change that Martin Luther King, Jr. envisioned in his “Promised Land” 50+ years ago. It is up to us (ordinary folks) to keep the flame burning, to continue rallying for change, to help open the gates to the Promised Land. PO Box 1126 • Diamond Springs, CA • 95619 Phone: 916-312-3008 Email: [email protected] Visit Our Website FEC # C00483412 FPPC# 781341 CONNECT WITH US! ‌ ‌ El Dorado County Democratic Party | P.O. Box 1126, Diamond Springs, CA 95619 Unsubscribe [email protected] Update Profile | About Constant Contact Sent by [email protected] in collaboration with Try email marketing for free today!