On Wednesday morning we woke up to an Ohio that looks very similar to the one we said goodnight to on Tuesday.
We still face a mass incarceration crisis, we lack workable solutions to a deadly opioid epidemic, and the same lawmakers who opposed Ballot Issue 1 provide us with no plans for moving ahead. Stay the course, they say. More felonies, more prisoners, more overdoses, insufficient treatment, and more tax dollars wasted on warehousing people.
Women woke up yesterday wondering if abortion access will remain available in Ohio, and the LGBTQ community pondered what legislative scapegoating, yet again, might await them. People of color and immigrants awoke, as they do every day, adjusting to the racist realities of an administration that devalues, even mocks, their lives.
But those, like you, who support the ACLU of Ohio, know the power you hold! You realize your vote was not in vain. Your energy is never wasted. You are the difference Ohio needs right now!
As an ACLU of Ohio supporter, you are making a difference in the arc of criminal justice reform, you are standing with impacted communities, and you are choosing equality, justice and fairness. You are powerful!
The ACLU of Ohio is resolute. We never back down. We have ambitious plans to protect and expand individual freedoms in 2019. With you, we are stronger today than we were yesterday – and your support makes all the difference.
Thank you.
J. Bennett Guess
Executive Director, ACLU of Ohio
