TS - We're on our way to justice for all

From the Times Standard, posted on Gallegos' Campaign website ("Course they didn't tell you it was largely plagiarized, and it was not discovered until after the election, when it was uncovered following another incident of plagiarism, Paul Gallegos' "My Word" on 'vigilantism.'

My Word: We're on our way to justice for all
from the Times-Standard | Editorials | by Paul Gallegos | May 7, 2006

Four years ago we challenged ourselves to build a community that is courageous, compassionate and flexible enough to meet the demands of all of its people; to create an independent District Attorney's office that is more effective, responsive and accountable to the people of the Humboldt County and that focuses not on punishment -- but on community safety and crime prevention; and to bring meaning to the phrase “Justice for All.”

This has not been an easy challenge. On June 6, we are, once again, faced with the question of whether we have the courage and can sustain the commitment to uphold these ideas. Because change is coming to Humboldt County whether we want it or not. While we can affect the character of that change, we cannot affect its inevitability.

Therefore, we must again ask ourselves what we really mean when we say that all people are created free and are equal before the law; that being American is not about where you are from but about a commitment to our deeply held beliefs about individual liberty and the celebration of the individual, not as an instrument for accumulating wealth, but as a reflection of the divine; and that the only legitimate power in a democratic system of government is power that comes from the people through the electoral process.

We must also, once again, ask ourselves how we will respond to the many challenges facing this community. Will we respond to recent tragic death of Ms. Moore and too many others with hatred, violence, lawlessness and division or with patience, wisdom and compassion toward one another -- not just as members of this community, but as human beings? Whenever anyone's life is taken by another unnecessarily -- whether done in the name of the law or in defiance of it, by one person or by a group, in cold blood or in passion, in violence or in response to violence -- our entire community is diminished.

We cannot continue to disregard the humanity in each of us. Will we respond to the culture of lawlessness and violence in our communities by standing firmly committed to the principle that to be free and to enjoy the rights we are entitled to we must vigorously protect the freedoms and rights of others? We cannot continue to assert that the protections and liberties of our society apply only to those we deem worthy of them.

Will we respond to the terrible costs to this community associated with our addiction and abuse of legal and illegal drugs and alcohol by reflecting on our own behavior and commit to coming up with realistic, effective solutions or by continuing to see it as a problem of others? We must accept we are as involved in the process of addiction and abuse as the addicted and the abuser, and we must work to address the causes of that addiction and abuse.

Will we continue to respond to spousal, child and elder abuse with denial or fear or as community ills that can only be meaningfully addressed by community participation? We must commit ourselves to the idea that we will only make our streets safe if we make our homes safe.

Fortunately or unfortunately, we have the responsibility of answering these questions. If we fail, our children will harvest the fruit of our indifference: A Humboldt County we did not want, we did not choose, and that we could have made better if only we had shouldered the responsibility of our generation.

While I can run on my record, I cannot rest on it. None of us can. Clearly, there is much more work to do.

Change is coming to Humboldt County. It will be peaceful if we are wise enough, compassionate if we care enough, and just if we are committed enough to finish what we began four years ago. I have been, am and will remain committed to that challenge.

Paul Gallegos is district attorney for Humboldt County.

The opinions expressed in My Word pieces do not necessarily reflect the editorial viewpoint of the Times-Standard.
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