Please join us in thanking Governor Nixon for his leadership. His veto upheld the rule of law by demanding justice and equality for every citizen in Missouri. A sample letter is attached below for you review – e-mail, copy, print, or revise it – but please send your thanks in the best way you can express them to the Governor.
Thank you Governor!
Governor Nixon’s veto is a tribute to the courage exhibited by people who act in the pursuit of equality and justice for all. On April 29, 2011, he stuck to his principles, and the rule of law. In so doing, Missouri’s Governor has saved Missourians’ from loosing protections that have been the law for more than three decades. In so doing Missouri announced that it is open for business to everyone and while recognizing the intrinsic worth and dignity of every person. In so doing, Missouri’s law continues to uphold the accountability of a person or company who violates another.
The change proposed by SB 188, sponsored by the Missouri Chamber of Commerce, would have legalized and legitimized discrimination in Missouri. Too often we think of discrimination as a problem for people of color, but in fact, the protections relate in large and significant ways to women, the disabled, people of faith, and those over 40 years old among other classification.
Friday, April 29, 2011, Governor Nixon defeated the Missouri Chamber’s plan to do away with Missouri law, restrict human rights enforcement, and make Missouri the first state in the nation to usher Jim Crow era laws back in to our everyday lives.
However, our work is not over. Now, Missouri’s concerned citizens have two more tasks:
1. To ask our state representatives to vote against Big Business’s proposed override of the Governor’s veto of SB 188
2. To take a hard look at how this proposal evolved, who supported it and what needs to be done to keep it from returning.
The fact that several cities in Missouri supported the legislation through the work of the Missouri Municipal League and the Missouri School Board Association makes an examination of our local elected officials all the more relevant. Did they know that SB 188 and HB 205 sought to limit the civil rights of Missourians in favor of business? If they didn’t know, why not? And finally, will they continue to support these types of organizations’ efforts in the future?
For now, let us applaud a system of government that works for its people. Let us applaud Governor Nixon’s veto on behalf of women, all disabled people, anyone over 40, people of faith, and people of color and ethnicities that frequent our state. Here is a sample letter for your consideration and dissemination to Governor Nixon:
Dear Governor Nixon,
Thank you for supporting the rule of law and protecting the civil rights of people in Missouri! Your veto of SB 188 says volumes about your character, your integrity and what leadership ought to aspire to in America. Your service to the state has far reaching implications for us all.
Thank you for refusing to place business interests that limit damage awards above my rights as a human being living in Missouri. In the weeks to come we may see other attacks on civil and human rights. It is important that we can stand together working for Missouri.
Thank you for exhibiting leadership that I appreciate. Our democratic process envisions an educated electorate with the capacity to make complex distinctions between competing interests. I will stay informed and vote my conscious at each opportunity. Please continue to safeguard the rights of men, women and children.
Sincerely,
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