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George Angerbauer commented on Leading Out In Racial Justice 2021-05-16 18:00:07 -0700Witnessing the murder of George Floyd awoke my spirit. My wife and I felt we had to stand with our black brothers and sisters; we could not stand by and do nothing. We participated in a BLM march in Salt Lake City. We protested the US Postal Service’s leadership for its blatant attempts to suppress or otherwise impede mail-in voting. We wrote to our elected representatives and spoke at our local city council meeting. I’ve continued to correspond and talk with my city’s mayor and police chief. And I’m very glad to say that in Riverton, Utah, the police have responded (not to me, though they’ve been very responsive and forthcoming) with what I’d say are, especially for Utah, very progressive policies and practices here. I’m still waiting for our mayor to send me the draft of a statement from him and the city council on equality and equity, which he’s told me a few times he would. We have had constructive discussions about race. We have a long way to go, but I am doing what I can here in my town. I’ve given up on posting too aggressively on my Facebook, it is not an effective way to be anti-racist, in my opinion. I do speak out and raise my voice in my posts from time to time, but I’m careful not to criticize or call out specific Republican or other group behavior; it does no good to my mostly-Republican community of friends. I feel they feel it antagonizes them. So I comment here and there, and post here and there, trying to plant seeds.
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Defending the Family
Sign upSome Republicans, particularly in Utah, seem to think that the most important fight in defense of the family takes place in the pages of a dictionary. We, the LDS Democrats caucus and the LDS Democrats of America, beg to differ.
We cannot sit idly by as our Muslim brothers and sisters are constantly under attack by demagogues. We cannot stay silent as refugee and immigrant families are demonized.
It is for this reason that we announce the publication of a report on the battles currently being waged in defense of the family. With this report, we echo the warning that "the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets." [1]
We also call upon "responsible citizens and officers of government everywhere to promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society."[1]
Click to Download the ReportSpecifically, this report calls upon Utah's elected officials to protect the sanctity of the family in the following areas: immigration and refugees, healthcare, education, the environment, our LGBTQ brothers and sisters, paid family leave, criminal justice reform, family planning, and poverty.
Our human family is under attack. We cannot, in good conscience, call ourselves "pro-family" unless we are actively, practically, and concretely looking out for the welfare of all families, regardless of their wealth, religion, sex, skin color, gender, race, health, or sexual orientation. We hope our Republican colleagues and friends will reject their anti-family policies, which amount to little more than cafeteria morality. We invite all to strengthen and maintain families all across the state as the fundamental units of society.
