McEachin town meeting touches on variety of topics

With the sheer range of the topics discussed — from net neutrality to yoga in public schools, from gerrymandering to immigrant rights, from sea level rise to human trafficking — one might balk at the notion that U.S. Rep. Donald McEachin's town hall meeting June 18 lasted only 90 minutes.

Yet these were just some of the subjects addressed at the meeting, which McEachin hosted at the Eastern Henrico Government Center. Local residents of all stripes filled that building’s multipurpose room to better understand where their congressional representative stands on issues that matter most to them.

McEachin, a Democrat, represents Virginia’s 4th District in the United States House of Representatives, which includes Richmond and parts of Henrico County. He hosts such town halls across the district to give constituents a chance to ask questions after he briefs them on some of his recent activity in Washington.

Before opening the floor to questions, McEachin updated the audience on some of the issues foremost in his own mind. He discussed the necessity of providing broadband internet in rural areas of his district south of Petersburg and reiterated that he and other House Democrats will continue to push for universal health care in Congress.

McEachin also addressed the Trump administration’s new policy of separating and detaining undocumented immigrant children from their parents after the families cross the southern border. He said that the practice is immoral and that fellow politicians who justify it with the Bible do not have a logical basis.

“Interestingly enough, they’re using the same biblical passage that was used to justify slavery,” McEachin said. “And they’re using the same biblical passage that was used to condemn the American Revolution, if you think about it.”

Constituent Nicholas Grubb asked McEachin what he and other representatives in Congress would do in response to migrant children being interned on military property away from their parents.

Democrats in the House planned to introduce a bill this week to reverse the policy, McEachin said. McEachin will co-sponsor it, but Jerry Nadler, a representative from New York and the highest ranking member on the House’s judiciary committee, will take the lead on the bill.

“I believe in my heart of hearts that there’s a lot of support for a bill like Nadler’s,” McEachin said. “It may not be exactly the Nadler bill; there may be another bill that comes up next week that has a Republican patron on it. If it does the same things as the Nadler bill, I’ll be supportive of it.”

Gun safety concerns
Some attendees asked McEachin what Congress is doing to pass gun safety legislation that would stymie the mass shootings — which take place in the United States on an almost daily basis, according to a New York Times report. The congressman said that passing such legislation in the current Congress is difficult, but that he believes viable steps can be taken to prevent gun violence.

“I’m absolutely looking forward to Congress acting on gun legislation,” McEachin said. “It seems every time there is a mass shooting, what we decide to do is pray and not act. There are a number of things that we can do and that I am supportive of, not the least of which is closing the gun show loophole. And if you’re on the no-fly list, I believe you shouldn’t be able to own a gun.”

BeKura Shabazz, a constituent and a field organizer for the Virginia Conservation Network, mentioned rising sea levels and the threat they pose to Virginians with lower incomes.

“The governor came out and said it’s time to prepare for hurricane season,” Shabazz said. “Well, poor people can’t get prepared for hurricane season, whether they’re home owners or business owners. They just don’t have the means to. What can we do to have something in place to prevent Hurricane Katrina in Virginia’s coastal areas?”

McEachin concurred that rising sea levels are very dangerous, not only to people who live on the coast but to the efficiency of the U.S. Navy. The U.S. can take a few hints from other nations to prevent further sea level rise, but the most efficient solution would be to elect national politicians who know the value of science, unlike President Trump, McEachin said, who has called climate change a “Chinese hoax."

“We can learn from the Dutch,” McEachin said, “and how they go about managing their sea level rise. They’re essentially underwater. But the number one thing we can do is reduce our carbon footprint. And to do that, we need to make a national effort to attack climate change — and to do that, we’re going to have to have an election.”

Addressing homelessness
Several constituents brought up homelessness as one of the most pressing problems the district faces. Dixie Mcelfresh, who volunteers to assist the homeless, said that there was a particularly high number of homeless veterans in the Richmond area.

“There’s not enough being done to protect them, to help them get off the street, or to prevent them getting on the street,” McElfresh said.

McEachin said that homelessness is an important issue, and that he has people on his staff who focus on it whom McElfresh and other concerned constituents can contact to help address it.

Yewande Austin, an activist and musician who asked McEachin about human trafficking in Virginia, said that this town hall meeting was the first she has attended and that it gives her hope for the future of the nation’s politics.

“I think I fit among millions of people in this country who have for years felt like our system is broken, that it’s ineffective, and that people voted [into office] to serve our communities don’t care,” Austin said. “But I’m increasingly meeting more and more government officials, like Congressman McEachin, that are challenging me to think differently.”