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QuangDoforDistrict5529 karma

Ah, yes! Was waiting for this question. Our team has been working and have decided to put bi-partisan bills that we KNOW can be done immediately at the top of our list rather than things that we know can be done after some organizing and coalition building work.

My first priority, and I hope District 55 will hold me accountable to this, will always be our working class families. Whenever the opportunity presents itself for me to pass, vote or fund legislation and policies that will directly benefit our families I will do that above any other priority.

Three specific pieces of bi-partisan legislation:

  1. The introduction of an amendment that guarantees the survival of the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for a minimum of 20 years with a requirement of it being assessed for extension every 5 years. Alabama currently provides ZERO state-funding for children's healthcare. All of our funding comes from the federal government. That's just not good enough. The health and lives of our children should not be up to who is in the White House.

  2. Introduce home rule. Municipalities in Alabama are required to go to the State Capitol for approval on local-level bills, amendments and funding. The Birmingham City Council, for example, voted to increase minimum wage from the federal minimum $7.25 to $10.10/hr but was stopped by the Alabama House Legislator which retroactively banned local governments from setting minimum wage.

  3. Creation of a state lottery to help fund public schools/expand pre-k, the CHIP program, and pre-trial diversion programs aimed at ending the school-to-prison pipeline.

Dream Priorities:

  1. Campaign finance reform. Alabama has one of the most corrupt political systems in the country. I would work to make us the national model for governing without corporate or special interest dollars.
  2. Creation of a state minimum wage that adjusts with income.
  3. Ending of "special school districts" that leave poor and marginalized students out to dry.

QuangDoforDistrict5518 karma

"white people don't know what it's like to be poor or live in ghettos"

No, I do not agree with it because, when you look at the data and statistics, it just isn't true. Over 20 million white Americans live in poverty. Saying that does nothing to help address the plight of anyone.

Being completely honest and transparent, though, I think what it means to be poor and Black in America is contrastingly different than what it means to be White and poor in America.

The data on this is pretty clear: when you control for income, Black and Brown Americans have far worse socio-economic outcomes than White Americans. I do think that has a lot to do with some of the wounds we have from slavery, segregation and Jim Crow that we have yet to heal.

Black and Brown Americans are still suffering from hundreds of years of systemic and institutionalized racism but saying that "white people don't know what it means to be poor" is just plain wrong and inaccurate.

QuangDoforDistrict5512 karma

What a really, really fantastic question.

I'm going to be honest with you - I don't think either of those options are enough to fix the issues with education in Alabama.

Birmingham City Schools receives just as much funding (when you look at spending per student) as the schools in the suburbs, but the dollar doesn't go nearly as far when the only meal some of our students get are when they are at school, it doesn't go nearly as far when students are having to work 30-40 hour a week jobs after school to help pay the rent, it doesn't go nearly as far when the young man or woman can't study at night because they're too busy being worried about the gunshots outside their house, and it definitely doesn't go as far when teachers are having to spend 60% of instruction time addressing behavioral problems rather than focused on helping students reach their learning goals.

If we want to be honest about fixing education, we have to be honest about addressing poverty. We cannot have an equitable education system until all parents and families have the same economic opportunities outside the classroom as we expect students to have educational opportunities inside the classroom.

So how do we fix this without just throwing more money at the problem?

  1. Create a state minimum wage that adjusts annually with cost of living.
  2. Guarantee that anyone who works 35 hours a week (even if it's 18 hours a week at one job and 17 hours at another) will have health insurance.
  3. Implement a state fund (Alabama is one of 3 states that does not have this) for public transportation to make access to high quality, good paying jobs in our city and state not so dependent on whether or not you have a car.
  4. Decriminalizing marijuana and retro-actively clear the records for anyone previously charged with minor possession offenses.

ALL of those things and so much ore are required to truly fix our education system and create an environment where parents have the financial resources to support their students in the classroom.

We shouldn't make the classroom any "easier" by lowering standards but we should make it easier for our parents to be engaged in the classroom by reforming what's happening outside of it to empower them to be available inside of it.

To answer your question specifically:

I think we need to raise the standards and make it much more difficult for cities trying to create their own "special districts" that essentially cut out black, poor and marginalized students and remove tax revenue from poor and working class families.

A county school recently tried to separate from the county system and create their own "city" school system but the DOJ came down and denied their request (even though our state and county said yes) because they would have disenfranchised black families and it was quite simply, racist. It was a school that was 60% black and the new district would have made it less than 10% black. All tax revenue in the new school district would have gone to the new "upper class" school which means the taxes (sales and real estate) would be taken from the old school and placed with the new one. The fact that this would have come into fruition without the DOJ stepping in is ABSOLUTELY disgusting.

QuangDoforDistrict5511 karma

I would align most with "Berniecrat" minus some of the global isolationist views of the platform.

Off the top of my head:

Economy: I'd rather have a dozen mom-and-pop grocery stores than one Wal-Mart.

Education: Publicly funded post-secondary programs, increase funding for HBCU's, create better pathways for parents to be engaged in the classroom by supporting them outside of it.

Crime: Decriminalize marijuana but increase penalties for drug trafficking. Our criminal justice system should not be punitive but be truly restorative and rehabilitative.

Social: I'm a single father of a 6 year old and my co-parent is in an LGBTQ relationship so I am in full support of LGBTQ rights and protections, personally pro-life as a Catholic but politically pro-choice because I, or no other man, should have a say in what my daughter does with her body.

Let me know if there's anything specific things you'd like me to expand on!

Thank you again for stopping by.

QuangDoforDistrict5510 karma

We made a commitment this campaign to be as honest and transparent about our views as possible. I am for defending the rights of Alabamians and all Americans but I wanted to be intentional in bringing up the facts behind the rights granted to us in the constitution. I apologize if that in anyway came off as me avoiding or refusing to answer your question.

All of the amendments within the Bill of Rights have provisions, protections and limitations that are determined through our political processes, either directly by the citizens via the ballot or indirectly through the Judicial, Executive or Legislative branches of government.

Again, I am a gun owner and enthusiast and would like to think that I have a good understanding of the social, historical and political significance of the second amendment. I was born in a country that does not have the same freedoms and protections like in America and I have made it my life goal to do everything I possibly can to protect those freedoms for my daughter but the job of an elected official is not to do what THEY want but to do what their citizens have asked of them.

Thank you again for the insightful conversation.