Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Calendar
  • About Us
  • Watch/Listen
  • FOIL Docs
  • Editorial Policy
  • Log in
  • Publish Article

Upcoming Events

No upcoming calendar events.

Louise Slaughter Was a Champion of the People

Primary tabs

  • View(active tab)
  • Devel
Submitted by George Cassidy Payne on Mon, 2018-03-19 15:31

LouisePower2.jpg

Like so many of my fellow Rochesterians, I will remember Louise Slaughter for her commitment to the underdogs, outcasts, disadvantaged, victims and survivors. When so many of her colleagues were casting votes to get rich, gain power, or hide from their mistakes, Slaughter used the best information available to speak on behalf of the voiceless in society. Her votes were for the immigrants, minorities, children, elderly, ill and wounded. When others in politics were looking to use their power for themselves, Slaughter used it to help women, veterans, and the environment. Whether she was taking on the banks for corruption, or standing up for farmers over subsidies, she always cared about the welfare of people first.

I had the good fortune to see her work up close. In 2000, as part of a St. John Fisher College sponsored program, I enlisted as a service learning volunteer at the Rochester Democratic Headquarters on East Ave. Folding envelops, making calls, surveying neighborhoods, and spreading the word about Slaughter’s campaign, I got a chance to see her operate in the heat of battle. I admired the way she talked to employees, volunteers, the media, and her constituents. As a candidate, she was always extremely attentive, courteous, and energetic.

In 2006 I graduated from Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School. The commencement speaker that year was Representative Slaughter. While enraptured by her heartfelt speech, I remember thinking to myself how she had a dozen or more things that she could have been doing that would be more important than this. Instead of taking some high profile meeting in Washington, traveling to a foreign country on a diplomacy mission, or courting wealthy donors, she was in a small church, speaking truth to power to a modest gathering of future ministers and social workers. I will never forget her passionate words of encouragement that day.

Another story feels precious right now. My wife told me about seeing Slaughter during her 8th grade class field trip to D.C. Her teacher recognized the Congresswoman going up some stairs in the Capital, went over and asked if she would say a few words to the kids. Naturally she said yes.

That was Louise Slaughter. She said yes for the right reasons and to the right people.

But Slaughter also knew how to say no when she needed to. Perhaps her most difficult vote in Congress came in October 2002, when she and her peers were called to go to war in Iraq. Under immense political and social pressure, Slaughter was one of the few leaders in the DNC who had the prophetic courage to resist the Bush agenda. Her “No” vote demanded exceptional fortitude. In 2011, she again acted with fortitude when she voted yes on removing U.S. armed forces from Afghanistan.

As opposed to these ill advised wars as she was, Slaughter never stopped fighting to make sure that soldiers had the weapons and armor they needed to stay safe and be effective. She also fought to make sure that our veterans had the healthcare they deserved when the fighting was done. More than any other member of the House, it was Slaughter who hounded the Bush administration to find out how much money was being spent on the wars. She never stopped asking the hard questions.

Now that I am in my late thirties, I find that the legacy of Louise Slaughter is a cornerstone of my academic and professional life. The counseling work that I am currently engaged with at the Willow Domestic Violence Center in Rochester, is more influenced by Slaughter’s legacy than I ever realized. An agency of this size and scope would never exist the way it does without Slaughter’s landmark passage of the Violence Against Women Act in 1994. This bill radically changed the way government deals with the epidemic of domestic violence. One of the least ideological members of the U.S. House, Slaughter was able to tell the remarkable stories of domestic violence survivors and champion their struggle in a public way. Like she had done for countless other groups in her political career, she was able to make the plight of women in domestic violence situations a public health crisis and national emergency. Due to her tenacious activism, thousands of lives have been saved.

Louise Slaughter was a towering figure in American government. She was the first woman to Chair the House Rules Committee, a degree earning microbiologist, a defender of the working class, a patriot in every sense of the word, and a representative of the people who will never be replaced.

May she rest in peace.
 
 
George Cassidy Payne
Rochester, NY
 
 
  • Facebook logo
  • Google logo
  • identi.ca logo
  • Twitter logo
  • Digg logo
  • del.icio.us logo
  • Reddit logo
  • StumbleUpon logo
  • Yahoo logo
  • Log in or register to post comments

Search form

Local News

Blueprint for Engagement: Evaluating Police / Community Relations Final Report (2017)
The Police-Civilian Foot Patrol: An Evaluation of the PAC-TAC Experiemnt in Rochester, New York (June 1975)
Police Killing of Denise Hawkins (1975)
Complaint Investigation Committee Legislation (1977)
Race Rebellion of July 1964
Selections Regarding the Police Advisory Board (1963-1970)
Prelude to the Police Advisory Board
A.C. White (January 26, 1963)
Police Raid on Black Muslim Religious Service (January 6, 1963)
Rufus Fairwell (August 12, 1962)
Incarcerated Worker sheds light on Prison Labor Conditions during Pandemic
Police and Political Commentary
BWC video indicates Mark Gaskill was holding his phone as police shouted "gun"
How the NY Attorney General's defended the police who killed Daniel Prude
Hats off to Kropotkin!!
Agreement between the City of Rochester and the Rochester Police Locust Club, 2016 - 2019
Facebook Posts Lead to Federal Rioting Charges for Justice for Daniel Prude Protester
Youth Sports Leagues, Personnel Files, and Journalistic Peddling of Copaganda
Behind Those Giant Messages at the Protests
Singletary, La'Ron (2020 fired Chief of Police): personnel file; settlement

Recent Comments

Any status on FOIL request?
Media's Goebbels
Related
Related
USA as NAZI criminals
oops
PS
A message of Truth from Geral
Fyi
See related data...

Syndication

  • Feature Stories
  • Local News

Account Creation Policy Change

Rochester Indymedia is now requiring editor approval for account creation.

We came to this decision after we had repeated spam posted to our website that caused difficulty with the website's functioning.  We will still have open publishing and keep our site as nonrestrictive and accessible as possible.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us.  As before, we will continue to be Rochester's grassroots news and education site.  Thank you for your continued support and remember, "Don't hate the media, be the media!"

Editorial Meeting Times / Locations

The Rochester Independent Media Center (R-IMC) is no longer meeting regularly.
We will set up meetings by necessity and appointment. Please contact us at rochesterindymedia@rocus.org.
Our home is still the Flying Squirrel Community Space at 285 Clarissa St. Occasionally, we hold meetings at RCTV located at 21 Gorham Street.

Global IMC Network

To be downloaded