Will The Bluest District In America Elect New York's Most Bigoted Democrat?

Tomas Ramos and Ruben Diaz, Sr-- NY-15

In a sermon blog post yesterday, If White Conservatives Loved All People The Way They Do Embryos, Rev. John Pavlovitz noted that, for all the tears and showy garment-rending over women's Choice, the conservatives stop caring about embryos who turn into people: "these supposed life-lovers often don’t treat them like they’re at all human. Nine or thirteen or thirty-two or sixty-five years later when they show up in their communities and in their emergency rooms and along their borders, in need of food or refuge or healthcare or compassion-- they’re no longer something sacred or beautiful. Unless these lives conform to the narrowest and most stringent of criteria (usually being white, Republican), they’re more often treated as threats to be neutralized and adversaries to be destroyed."

Embryos that grow into LGBTQ teenagers aren’t worthy of their protection now. In fact, they receive their contempt, bear the brunt of their jokes, and absorb the full damnation of their brimstone sermons. They can’t get married or use a public bathroom or get benefits for their partners without being assailed at every turn by these “lovers of life.”

Embryos that become terrified migrants fleeing crime and poverty and pressed up against the most urgent desperation, don’t merit the passionate defense once within their borders they might have received while inside the womb. Instead they sustain their scorn and suspicion and every bit of their malicious, wall-building bitterness.

Embryos that become sick middle-aged adults fighting metastasizing tumors, facing astronomical chemotherapy bills, and desiring healthcare that will not drive them to bankruptcy-- don’t elicit a shred of the empathy they’d have garnered when they were still microscopic.

Embryos that one day stand in need of Government assistance to keep the lights on or food on the table for their children because they have endured unthinkable adversity along their journey—will not be met with tearful embraces by these so-called life-lovers. They’re derided as lazy and irresponsible, and told to pull themselves up by their boot straps, while never having the benefit of boots.

Embryos that one day worship in Muslim communities around these white Christians, aren’t afforded any passionate defense and aren’t celebrated with effusive social media soliloquies. They’re branded as terrorist sympathizers, their religious freedoms ignored and their very existence resented with checkout line coldness, airport side-eye stares, and travel ban exclusion.

And perhaps most ironically of all, embryos that grow into women who desire the final say regarding their own bodies-- will find their lives and wills are now of little concern. They will be legislatively subjugated by those who’d have once declared them precious.

...I wish white Christian Conservatives had the same passion for migrant children, school shooting victims, sick toddlers, young black men, Muslim families, LGBTQ teens, the environment, and women’s autonomy over their bodies that they have for embryos.

Then they’d actually be pro-life, and then we’d all be able to go about the work together of caring for humanity wherever there is need to do so.

Yes, white Conservatives love embryos.

Disparate human beings who bear little resemblance to them—not so much.

The South Bronx congressional district from which Jose Serrano is retiring, doesn't have many white Conservatives. In fact, only 2.5% of the district's population is white. And when Republicans run there, it's just a publicity stunt. NY-15 is the bluest district in America. Obama won it with 95% the first time he ran and with 97% the second time. In 2016, Trump only took 4.9% of the vote, his worst performance anywhere in the country. This cycle, though, conservatives might get lucky. One of their own is running for the open congressional seat... and running as a Democrat.

Yesterday, Alex Rogers, warned CNN.com readers that City Councilman Rubén Díaz Sr., New York's most right-wing Democrat, has a chance to slip into the seat. Ironically, NY-15 is right next to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's district and Díaz enjoys telling everyone he's the opposite of her. He sure is. Rogers calls him "a 76-year-old, cowboy hat-wearing Pentecostal minister known for his constituent services and controversial statements on social issues" and makes his path to victory clear-- a split among half a dozen progressive and mainstream candidates could leave the crackpot with a primary win.

Councilman Ritchie Torres-- the first out gay person to hold elected office in the borough and a likely competitor in the race-- told CNN, "Rubén Díaz Sr. is the most vicious homophobe in New York State politics."

This is anti-Choice maniac Ruben Diaz, Sr campaigning with anti-Choice maniac Ted Cruz

Díaz, a self-proclaimed "conservative Democrat" is out of step with the national party's views on abortion and same-sex marriage. He was the only Democrat in the state Senate to vote against a bill legalizing same-sex marriage in 2011. And he has been sharply criticized in recent months for saying the City Council is "controlled by the homosexual community"; he was subsequently stripped of his chairmanship of the For-Hire Vehicle committee and urged to resign by the City Council Speaker Corey Johnson.

...But Díaz, who previously served in the New York State Senate for 15 years, is viewed as a strong contender in the campaign with a proven base of support, especially among senior citizens, ministers through his New York Hispanic Clergy Organization and taxi cab drivers.

"No one should underestimate Rubén Díaz Sr.," said US Rep. Nydia Velázquez, who has not endorsed anyone in the emerging race. "The voters know him."

Díaz is set to face Torres and Assemblyman Michael Blake, a vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee who will officially announce his campaign at a rally Sunday, in the primary.

Torres told CNN it is "extremely probable" that he will run for Serrano's seat. He said he would focus on issues like increasing federal investment in public housing, building on his work as the chairman of the relevant committee in the City Council.

In a separate interview, Blake said his record on criminal justice reform issues-- including boosting efforts to raise the age of criminal responsibility, banning commercial bail and helping charitable bail organizations assist poor people-- can't be beat.

Yet, they both turned their sharpest comments for Díaz Sr. In calling out his controversial statements regarding the gay community, Torres said Díaz Sr. should be running in the Republican primary instead. And Blake called Díaz's rhetoric "absolutely unacceptable," "divisive," "hateful" and "not at all becoming of someone that should be running for Congress or quite frankly an elected office."

...Díaz Sr. boasts multiple advantages in a congressional race, from sharing the same name as his son, Rubén Díaz Jr., the Bronx borough president, to having a defined constituency in a multi-candidate race. And more may come besides Torres and Blake: Marlene Cintron, the president of the Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation, told CNN she was considering running and will make her decision in June or July.

"If it's more than two candidates running in the same race that he's in, I'm afraid that he is going to be the next member of Congress from that district," said Gerson Borrero, a NY1 political commentator, told CNN. "He does have a base, which is a problem with this guy."

...All of these factors are on the minds of some of the Democratic members of Congress from New York. In interviews, they generally praised Torres and Blake-- who worked on Barack Obama's 2008 campaign and then in the White House-- while noting others could also join the race. But the conversation turned sour when asked about Díaz Sr.

Rep. Adriano Espaillat said Torres is "one of the good candidates" and Blake is "also a worthy candidate." When asked about Díaz, Espaillat said, "We'll leave that one."

Ocasio-Cortez, who serves the neighboring district, said it was "unfortunate" that Díaz entered the race. "He has a disturbing track record towards the LGBT American community," Ocasio-Cortez told CNN. She said she would "absolutely not" support his candidacy. (Díaz has claimed he is the "opposite" of Ocasio-Cortez.)

...To be sure, there will be other issues in the race besides Díaz's candidacy. Torres called for a congressional investigation into Trump administration's "almost willfully starving" of Puerto Rico. And he has straddled ideological lines, supporting Sen. Bernie Sanders in the 2016 presidential primary, without embracing that candidate's signature issues like single-payer health care or the Green New Deal. Torres calls himself a "pragmatic progressive" that wants to "maximize" renewable energy and supports "at a minimum" providing a public health insurance option. He notes all the hospitals in the area and says he wants to hear from the unions before considering more sweeping overhaul of the health care sector.

CNN went out of its way to ignore the grassroots progressive candidates who aren't part of the establishment-- several running AOC-type campaigns. Remember, this is a district that has had some of the lowest voter turnout for congressional primaries. People there are going to need a progressive candidate that will inspire voters of all ages to go to the polls. So far the one we see most likely to be able to accomplish that is a local activist Tomas Ramos. Take a look at this introductory video:





Yesterday I asked Ramos which issues are going to motivate voters in the district and get them ti turn out for him. He told me that these are the three big ones that he's running on:

The 1994 omnibus crime bill allocated $30 billion worth of funds that in essence decimated communities of color which in effect accelerated mass incarceration. The bulk of the funds were dedicated to punitive measures and not toward rehabilitative or preventative services. In an effort to turn the tide to adopt and implement therapeutic jurisprudence I currently oversee an alternative to incarceration program. It diverts low-level offenders away from the criminal justice system by offering them a space which is focused on illustrating how crimes affect the community as a whole. This is the type of reform which is needed in the justice criminal justice system.

The Gun-Free Schools Act accelerated the school to prison pipeline. The law mandated yearlong suspensions for students that were caught bringing a weapon to school. When states  started interpreting "weapon" very broadly it lead to zero-tolerance policies which increased suspensions and expulsions. These suspensions have affected a disproportionate number of black and Latino students. This type of ‘broken windows’ policies in schools has lead to an increase in out of school suspensions. With the adoption of such policies, resources are catered toward policing students rather than creating alternative educational career pathways such as an investment in vocational trade institutions.

The Reagan era decimated most of the social safety nets which low-income Americans had come to rely on. With this type of disinvestment on the federal level, HUD was reduced to being a reactive entity. Succeeding administrations have failed to ensure that the agency receives adequate funding. NYCHA, which is the country’s largest public housing entity has felt the effects of this disinvestment. It is estimated that NYCHA will need at least $32 billion over the next five years to repair its crumbling infrastructure. With a myriad of needs HUD requires a higher level of funding to ensure that its housing stock and voucher programs remain intact to serve its most disenfranchised Americans.

Is he for Medicare-For-All, the Green New Deal, raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, free public colleges, women's Choice, gender equality...? Of course, all of the above. But he knows his district and he is certain the people who live there want to talk about the issues he's emphasizing, even above and beyond the more national issues. If you'd like to contribute to his campaign-- and help stop Rubén Díaz Sr.-- please click on the DWT ActBlue thermometer above.