Opinion

Progressive Voice is a weekly opinion column. The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of their organizations or ARLnow.com.

By: Alfonso Lopez

On Tuesday I found myself thinking of Susan B. Anthony, the suffragettes fighting for equality locked up at the Occoquan Workhouse, the incomparable Dolores Huerta, and my role models and predecessors in the Virginia General Assembly State Senator Mary Margaret Whipple and Delegate Karen Darner. I thought of my wife, my aunts, my cousins who are like sisters, my Vassar classmates and professors, and my Mom who fought so hard and dreamed of seeing a woman in the White House. On Election Day I proudly voted Hillary Clinton for President.

Like so many in Arlington, I woke up on Wednesday morning incredibly disappointed by the election results. I am immensely proud to have joined over 90,000 Arlingtonians in voting for Hillary Clinton. Arlington alone provided a 71,000 vote margin for Secretary Clinton out of her victory margin of 184,000 votes in Virginia. Unfortunately, despite winning Virginia and securing a majority of the national popular vote, Secretary Clinton will not be our 45^th President.

While many have already dissected and analyzed what happened in this election, I think it is important to remember that Arlington is a microcosm of the values and priorities that Hillary Clinton fought so hard to promote in this campaign.

We are extraordinarily diverse and welcoming to people of all backgrounds regardless of their ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation or gender identity. We value leaders with experience and a steady hand that focus on core priorities such as investing in education, transportation and transit infrastructure, job creation, environmental protection, affordable housing and a robust social safety-net for our most vulnerable citizens.

Although we may not have elected the President we’d want as a role model for our children, Arlington can still continue to lead the way as an exemplary community that remains one of the best places in America to live, work and raise a family. Our values of openness, inclusion and compassion are our strength and will continue to guide us through our challenges.

Though we have steady Democratic leadership here in Arlington, the Republican Party now will control the vast majority of state legislatures and governors’ mansions across the country, the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate and the White House. Over the next few years, they will have unequivocal authority over the direction of our country.

As a result, instead of coalescing around a position of simply opposing President Obama at every turn and refusing to compromise, Republicans now have to own the status quo. They need to govern and take responsibility for their choices. Voter can then fairly evaluate and judge those choices. After eight years rooting for President Obama to fail and doing their best to ensure it — obstructionism will no longer work.

Our democracy is built on the foundation of free and fair elections that determine the direction of our country, and we have the opportunity with every new election to make a course correction and change that trajectory. Just next year, Virginians will have the opportunity to elect a new Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General and all 100 members of the House of Delegates.

If you are upset about the results of this election, I encourage you to get involved with your local Democratic Committee and find out what you can do in the next election to change the direction of our country. In the United States, our revolutions are political and they start with individuals, neighbors and communities coming together to vote, organize and let their voices be heard.

Every vote matters. Indeed, Clinton would have won with just four more votes per precinct in Michigan, seven per precinct in Pennsylvania, and nine per precinct in Wisconsin.

As the old saying goes, “We must strive as hard as we can, to do as much good as we can, for as many people as we can, for as long as we can.”

This election is an important reminder that we cannot take anything for granted and that there is always more work to do to keep our community, our commonwealth and our country moving forward.

As Hillary Clinton said in her concession speech, “(N)ever stop believing that fighting for what’s right is worth it. It’s always worth it.”

Quoting Faulkner, Senator Tim Kaine stated, “They kilt us, but they ain’t whupped us yit.”

Our work continues. Join us and together let’s fight to achieve our goals, shared values, and dreams.

Alfonso Lopez represents the 49^th District (South Arlington and Eastern Fairfax) in the Virginia House of Delegates and serves as the Democratic Whip. He and his family are long-time residents of Arlington.

Progressive Voice is a weekly opinion column. The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of their organizations or ARLnow.com.

By: Elizabeth Jones Valderrama

Incarceration is traumatic. It is traumatic for the individual in jail or prison, of course. It is also traumatic for the families of that individual, particularly children, who are silent sufferers. There are five million children in the United States with a parent incarcerated — that’s about one in every 14 children under the age of 18.

Can you imagine the loss that a child experiences when their mother or father is suddenly gone from their lives for a period of time?

Studies show that children of incarcerated parents are affected in a variety of capacities, including a decline in academic performance, an increase in behavioral issues, an increase in the likelihood of involvement with the criminal justice system themselves and much more. The family often struggles with how much information to give to the child. Questions such as, “Do we tell the kids where Daddy went?” and “Do we tell them why Mommy is gone?” are difficult to answer.

Children who are aware of what is happening to their parent often experience shame and worry, and the stigma that accompanies a criminal history affects the children as well. Though impacted immensely, children of incarcerated parents bear this heavy burden as a result of something they had no control over. Additionally, families are often left with less income while their loved one is away, leaving many families in financial hardship.

Offender Aid and Restoration (OAR) is here, on behalf of the community to help.

OAR works with individuals who are currently incarcerated and those returning home to Arlington, Alexandria or Falls Church after their incarceration, as well as their families.

In Arlington, OAR partners with the Arlington County Sheriff’s Department and offers six-week parenting courses, taught by trained volunteers, in the Arlington County Detention Facility. These classes discuss how to be an effective parent, with a focus on how to have difficult conversations with their children about their incarceration and how to maintain positive relationships with the child’s guardian.

Individuals who participate in the parenting class also benefit from contact visits with their children during Mother’s Day and/or Father’s Day — in fact, taking the Parenting course is required for participation in these contact visits. You can imagine how impactful it can be to hug their parent and speak face-to-face rather than through the glass of a jail visitation room, especially during these special occasions.

You can also imagine that the holidays can be an especially difficult time for families of those incarcerated.

Having a loved one away for holidays is emotionally tough and families may not be able to provide holiday gifts for their children due to financial hardship. OAR understands the need to ensure children that their parent is thinking of them during the holiday season. With the support of the community, OAR’s “Project Christmas Angel” provides holiday gifts to children of incarcerated parents in the Arlington County Detention Facility, as well as those who have been recently released and those active in OAR’s programs.

OAR volunteers wrap and distribute donated gifts. Each child receives three gifts mailed or hand delivered to their home and the gifts have handwritten gift tags from their parent. One parent from the Arlington County Detention Facility wrote to OAR about this program: “Thank you so much for providing gifts for my children this year. It breaks my heart that I am not with them and they are suffering from my mistakes. But it warms my heart to know that on Christmas morning they will have gifts from me and know that I am thinking of them every single day.”

There are several ways the community can help Project Christmas Angel and OAR is currently collecting donations. Gifts for children ages newborn to 18 are needed, while gifts for teens are especially needed. OAR is also collecting gift card donations. Denominations of $20 to $25 to places such as Target and Amazon are most helpful. We have an Amazon wish list where donations can easily be purchased online and shipped to OAR’s office. Additionally, financial donations are needed to fund the project. For more information about Project Christmas Angel visit OAR’s Events page.

OAR is so thankful to be serving a community that understands the needs and struggles of individuals currently and formerly incarcerated, as well as their families. As author Bryan Stevenson once said, “Each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done.”

Elizabeth Jones Valderrama is the Executive Director of Offender Aid and Restoration (OAR), serving Arlington County and the Cities of Alexandria and Falls Church, and has been on the OAR team for over 11 years. Born in Costa Rica, she relocated to Arlington in 1989. Elizabeth holds a BA in Spanish and Latin American Studies from the University of Virginia and has a Master’s Degree in Organizational Management. She is a 2009 graduate of Leadership Center for Excellence’s Signature Program and was honored as one of Arlington County’s 40 under 40 Emerging Leaders inaugural class.