(Inspired by: Congressman Lance Declines Invitation to Town Hall)

by Tina Tarighian

The 1960s were the beginning of a period of mass incarceration for the United States. When citizens felt unsafe in their neighborhoods, they propelled legislators to draft bills that made their system tougher and their streets safer. What they didn’t account for, however, was that clinging to the orthodoxy that more incarceration always means less crime would be the exact reason that the United States now harbors the population of some countries behind bars and leads the world in inmate count. Until we have some real reform, this legacy can never be ameliorated.

Dear Mr. Congressman,

My name is Sid, and I’m a Senior at Somerset VoTech. I’m typing out this letter to you on my phone, in the middle of a packed crowd at the Temple B’nai Abraham in Livingston, NJ.

This is the first rally I’ve ever been to in my life, because I’m a cynic, Mr. Congressman. I’ve never held the hope that a protest could shake this country onto the right path, or that a clever sign could be the mirror that sparks real reflection on Capitol Hill.

Mr. Congressman, I write to you today that I will be the last of the cynics. There is no more room in our democracy for the tired deflections of the past. I recognize that there are nuances to the issue of gun violence in America, but there is one divide that will forever and always be black-and-white: Mr. Congressman, we can either commit to act, or sit back and enable these horrific tragedies to continue.