Shelby County chapter building power, protections for all

If you attended the KFTC annual meeting, you saw one of the Shelby County chapter’s newest members, Joy Fitzgerald, give the chapter petition. She woke up the room with her excitement about being a member of KFTC. Another new member, Mari Mujica, also attended her very first annual meeting.

But our proudest accomplishment is a huge step forward in the four-year-long quest to get a fairness ordinance in Shelby County. We said last year we wouldn't quit and we haven't. 

We may not yet have an ordinance, but what we do have is a brand-new Human Rights Commission with a majority of new members recommended by the Shelby County KFTC and NAACP chapters. 

That may have something to do with the commission's very first order of business being reviewing and possibly recommending a fairness ordinance for adoption by Shelbyville and Shelby County. The previous commission had refused to even hear a request for a discussion.

Shelby County now has an active Human Rights Commission eager to stand up for victims of all kinds of discrimination in the community. 

Chapter members are not sitting on our HRC laurels, though. Just last month the chapter held an informational meeting about raising the minimum wage with an expert from the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy. Members are considering launching a “Fight for $15” in Shelby County.

Shelby KFTC members also have been at the forefront of the effort to reform the county animal shelter, which has been suffering from multiple problems.

Members held a human rights training for elected officials and other interested residents. Mari Mujica led that and did a superb job.

We held two fundraisers, a chili supper and one of our FAMOUS pie auctions, raising a total of $1,300. And yes, of course, we broke our own pie auction fundraising record, getting $900 for the best pies, cakes, quiches and cookies in all the land.

And we drove a KFTC float in the Shelbyville Labor Day Parade. It was decorated in the rainbow colors of racial justice, economic justice, social justice and of course fairness.