Brooklyn Boro

OPINION: Embracing empathetic citizenship

May 20, 2016 By State Sen. Jesse Hamilton For Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Democratic state Sen. Jesse Hamilton. Photo courtesy of state Sen. Hamilton’s office
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The late Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once said that the most important office in the land is that of private citizen. Why would Justice Brandeis make this remark? After all, it is counterintuitive that private citizens be valued so highly. How can the office of private citizen be more important than that of president, or member of Congress, or Supreme Court justice, or elected officials at state and local levels?

Engaged citizens hold government accountable. Engaged citizens are what movements, pushing government to do better, are built on. And engaged citizens are critical to keeping all the community-based organizations that work alongside government running.

But beyond being engaged citizens, we should aspire to being empathetic citizens. One of the themes that unites the deserved criticism leveled at Republican candidates for the presidency is an overarching lack of empathy. Empathy is particularly important as it undergirds the movements for social and economic justice that are central to confronting the challenges of our times.

With respect to social justice, empathetic citizenship animates movements. We ought to be empathetic to the objections of the LGBTQ community and reject the onerous, anti-LGBTQ laws proposed or passed in North Carolina, Mississippi and Tennessee. We ought to be empathetic to the fears of the undocumented residents of our neighborhoods, and reject the cruel proposals for mass deportations, self-deportations and deportation through attrition. And we ought to be empathetic to the dreamers, young people who seek an education and to contribute to life in the U.S.; young people, some of whom, only know America as home.

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With respect to economic justice, empathetic citizenship binds us together in solidarity. Whether by way of unions fighting for safe working conditions and fair wages or by securing the essentials so all have access to opportunity, empathetic citizenship makes the struggles of the vulnerable and dispossessed our struggles. The empathetic citizen is heir to the legacy of the Women’s Rights Movement, the Civil Rights Movement and all the efforts to make America live up to its true promise.

As Brooklynites and as New Yorkers, we have a unique position. We sit at one of the critical crossroads of our nation. It is our responsibility to cultivate that engaged, empathetic citizenship. I urge Brooklynites, and all New Yorkers, to join in the effort to promote empathetic citizenship. We need to show through our actions toward our neighbors at both the national and local levels, what empathetic citizenship looks like. It is only through that work, the efforts of private citizens joined together, that we can make our country reflect these important values.

 


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