NILES HOSTS 75TH FREEDOM FUND BANQUET

U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow and Michigan Department of Civil Rights Executive Director Agustin Arbulu were in Southwest Michigan last weekend to attend the N.A.A.C.P. Freedom Fund Banquet in Niles. It was the 75th annual Freedom Fund Banquet for the Niles Branch of the N.A.A.C.P.
Stabenow made a brief stop at the banquet, greeting attendees and speaking for a short time with local media. She said that the federal government is pretty divided right now in the first months of Donald Trump’s presidency.
Stabenow’s visit to Niles came at the end of a day which saw her visiting Kalamazoo and Three Rivers before returning home to Lansing for a birthday celebration. Saturday was her 67th birthday.
“It’s very difficult at the moment,” Stabenow said. “This is the fourth president I’ve worked with. I’ve worked with presidents from both parties and right now the government is pretty divided.”
Even though partisanship seems to be at fairly high levels right now, she stressed her bipartisan efforts including being the co-chair of the bipartisan Great Lakes Task Force with Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, a Republican. “I always look for ways we can work together,” she said.
Stabenow also pointed to her efforts on the Senate Agriculture Committee where she is the lead Democrat. “When we write the farm bills, we do it in a bipartisan way,” she said.
When asked about current issues such as the fate of Obamacare and President Trump’s just revealed tax overhaul proposal, Stabenow said she tries to look for common ground but that the Republicans’ plans in both areas need some work.
“The real solution to Obamacare is not to take away health insurance from two million people in Michigan,” she said. “The goal should be to lower costs. We need to tackle prescription drug costs and the cost of insurance being too high.”
As for the president’s tax plan, she said it’s too heavily weighted toward helping the wealthy and more needs to be done to help the middle class. “It needs some work,” she said.
Stabenow also spoke about her 2018 re-election plans and possible Republican opponents. Although some have mentioned U.S. Rep. Fred Upton as a possible senate candidate, she said Upton hasn’t indicated to her that he’s interested in running.
As for the possibility of singers Kid Rock or Ted Nugent running against her, she joked that they could have “dueling guitars” instead of debates as she plays the guitar herself. On a more serious note, she said she would rely on her experience in government if either ended up being her opponent.
She didn’t seem concerned that Michigan went for Trump rather than Democrat Hillary Clinton last November. “We’re an independent bunch in Michigan,” she said. “We vote for the person not the party. We’re very independent.”
Arbulu gave the keynote address at the banquet and talked about the work his department does in promoting and defending civil rights in the state. He focused on the history and work of his department including ongoing efforts to address the Flint water crisis and improving relations between police and communities.
As for the current state of race relations, Arbulu said there are reasons for hope in the midst of what some see as deepening racial divisions. “There are a lot of reasons for hope,” he said. “While people may feel discouraged, there are people who are speaking up about the importance of including everyone.”
“People should not be afraid of talking about race, that’s healthy. The key is how we get people to sit down and talk. Both the media and society are so fragmented right now, but it’s important to have dialogue. It’s a shame to see campuses shut down and people not willing to have a civil discourse. We need to listen.”
Arbulu said that while we living in “trying times” right now, it’s an opportunity to promote the cause of civil rights. He stressed the example of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., quoting his words that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
“This universe hinges on moral foundations,” King said in a Detroit speech many years ago, “There is something in this universe that justifies saying, ‘No lie can live forever.’ There is something in this universe that justifies saying, ‘Truth, crushed to earth, will rise again.'”