Thank you, thank you all.
You were right. Thank you to all the volunteers, all the voters, all the people who voted for the first time, and to all of those who understood that this election had nothing to do with me as a person, but had everything to do with the movement. All of you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
A movement was sworn in today. A movement. A movement for criminal justice reform that has swept Philadelphia, as the voters have spoken, and is sweeping the United States. One large city to another. One medium sized city to another. It is sweeping the United States. Every movement has its activists. This campaign had its activists. And we have heard, not only from Rev. Miller – thank you very much for your overly kind words Rev. But we have also heard brilliantly I think from so many others, Rev. Tyler and Rev. Holston and we’ll soon hear from the rabbi, these are all people who thoroughly understand what it means to be activists. And also understands that movements don’t have lawyers as leaders, they have lawyers as technicians. They have lawyers to manage the details.
So, on behalf of that movement, and as nothing more than a technician for that movement, I have taken the oath. But it is funny because it says that I will discharge the duties of the District Attorney’s Office but it never says what those duties are. So what are those duties? Well first and foremost it’s very clear from the ethical rules that the duty of the District Attorney, which is different than other attorneys and also different from the judiciary at times, but that duty is to seek justice in society, in society; that requires us to communicate the truth; to represent the public; and to exercise power with restraint with our roots dug deep in the rich soil of equality. That is what we need to do.
So, I thank the clergy for their kind words. I want to thank my wife, Lisa Rau, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, for swearing me in. It’s not the first promise I’ve made to her. She has, in addition to being an absolutely fabulous and courageous Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, she is also the mother of our two boys. Nate who is here. Caleb, who is on the West Coast. These three remain a constant source of inspiration and support in my lifetime. I also want to thank my extended family, an enthusiastic and well populated row up here. Thank you for the decades of love and support. Just so we are clear, this is not about my family. It’s about our family, because in the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection we are all family.
Today there is a little girl somewhere, let’s say in Southwest, she has really big glasses and she loves to read. And she goes to a public school where she has a fabulous teacher, and has 34 other kids in her class where there should be 20 or maybe 17. And she is going to solve the world’s problems if we just give her the chance. But the second teacher she needs is not there because the second teacher she needs is a jail cell that is occupied by a person who doesn’t need to be there. What is lost? What is lost here? Is so much human potential if we don’t get it right. It’s lost in the cost of a death penalty that is never imposed. We’ve lost that in the city with the highest rate of incarnation of any of the ten major cities. And so today we start the long road toward trading jails, and trading death row, for schools.
So, today there is another police officer in North Philly, let’s say, who is driving in a marked car and wearing a uniform in the neighborhood where he grew up. He’s smart, hardworking, loves his community, and wants to keep it safe. But when he waves, people don’t always wave back and they don’t tell him as much as he would like because there is a division between his uniform and the neighborhood that never had to be. That was not his doing. That was based on policies that were, at least, unwise and maybe worse than that. Today we start the long road toward trading division between police and the communities they serve for unity and reconciliation and cooperation.
Today there is a mother in the Northeast whose cell phone is always on ring for fear of her son being arrested, or maybe something much worse. He was prescribed pain pills by a doctor after a work accident several months ago and about the only thing he hasn’t lost yet is his life. He is homeless and wasting away from addiction to heroin. Today we start the long road toward trading jail cells occupied by people suffering from addiction for treatment and harm reduction.
And today there is a brother of a homicide victim, let’s say in South Philly, whose family can’t get justice because their key witness won’t come to court for fear of deportation. The witness is afraid of our own federal government. Today we start the long road toward empowering and protecting some of our most vulnerable witnesses and survivors, immigrants who lack legal status, so that they like other vulnerable groups; young people, elderly people, sex workers; so that they can participate in a criminal justice system that is there to protect them. Today we trade fear for sanctuary.
On these and so many other challenges that face the City, we – this movement – has taken an oath to remember that in the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection we are all family. We all deserve protection. We all deserve support and second chances. We are all that family and we are all that movement. Join us.
Thank you.
Author: Amaury Abreu
