General Assembly
KFTC stands with workers
Members of the KFTC Executive Committee adopted the following statement to express KFTC's solidarity with public employees, including teachers, and all workers who are under attack by Gov. Matt Bevin and leaders in the Kentucky General Assembly.
STATEMENT OF SOLIDARITY
Let's be an inclusive movement, avoid harmful and divisive language
KFTC's Executive Committee urges Kentuckians to create an inclusive movement by choosing not to play into harmful and divisive language.
Kentuckians For The Commonwealth works for an open, healthy democracy and a high quality of life for all people. We stand with teachers and public workers in the fight for a fair pension.
We understand the hurt and anger caused by Governor Bevin when he called Kentucky’s teachers and other public workers “selfish and short-sighted” and said they displayed a “thug mentality” when speaking out. He should apologize.
The word “thug” has a complicated history. It was used to disparage unions of working people throughout labor’s history. Over time, it’s meaning shifted and today, the word “thug” has racial undertones. It’s a word that causes hurt and pain for Black Kentuckians and other people of color.
That language seeks to divide us, and repeating it has unintended consequences.
Students should feel safe, protected, and free at school
As a student, it is my belief that students should feel safe, protected, and free at school. However, arming teachers may not make students feel safe, it could in fact do the opposite.
Help stop the “Youth Incarceration Bill”
UPDATED: March 28, 2018
Right now is a key moment for a piece of legislation that would negatively impact Black and Brown young people in Kentucky.
House Bill 169, the "Youth Incarceration Bill," passed the House on March 15 and Senate leaders were quick to take parlimentary maneuvers to fast-track the bill for passage. Then on March 27, after compelling testimony on why and how the state could invest in programs to prevent gang violence, the Senate Judiciary Committee instead voted to pass HB 169 and support locking up more young people, and for longer.
This bill does not make Kentuckians safer, but it would cost taxpayers an additional $19 million a year, and lead to even higher levels of youth incarceration, especially among youth of color. The bill would:
- Expand the definition of a gang membership.
- Require more severe sentences and harsher charges for anyone who fits the newly expanded definition of gang membership, without judicial discretion.
- Make the penalties for gang recruitment more severe.
The Medical Marijuana Task Force
Eric Simpson (Rowan Co.) on the chapter's civic engagement on medical marijuana bill HB 166
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