Ned Lamont made a visit to my neck of the woods and talked to students at Danbury High School Thursday morning.
The man who's looking to give Joe Lieberman his pink slip answered a series interesting questions from the packed audience ranging from the Iraq War, immigration, and the situation in Darfur, to the No Child Left Behind Law, urban violence and rising college tuition costs.
I have to say, the students asked better question than most other people did on the various Lamont events I've attended. It's promising to see students taking an interest into issues that will have an impact on their lives.
There is hope afterall.
One of the more interesting issues Lamont addressed was the situation in Darfur. For those who don't know, the students at Danbury High are very active in alerting the public about the deplorable situation in Darfur. Recently, the students made a video on Darfur and created a website dedicated to bringing attention to the horrible situation.
"The Promise" is a Danbury High School student video about genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan. Since 2003, it is estimated that over 300,000 people have been killed in Sudan, with millions more displaced from their homes and at risk of starvation. After school for three months at the end of 2005, a group of students worked with assistant principal Tim Salem on the project. The result is an eight minute documentary meant to raise awareness about the genocide and motivate action. The name "The Promise" is a reminder of the promise the United Nations and the world made in 1945 to hold people accountable for crimes against humanity. With the backdrop of the Holocaust, narration, images and quotations, the focus is on the plight of the children of Darfur. The world was promised "never again". The children and people of Darfur are waiting.
I thought it would be informative for viewers to see where Lamont stood regarding the crisis in Darfur so here's a videoclip of him addressing the issue.
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On September 26, 2007, ten plaintiffs filed suit in response to an arrest of aday laborers at a public park in Danbury, Connecticut. Plaintiffs amended their complaint on November 26, 2007.
The amended complaint states that plaintiffs sought to remedy the continued discriminatory and unauthorized enforcement of federal immigration laws against the Latino residents of the City of Danbury by Danbury's mayor and its police department.
Plaintiffs allege that the arrests violated their Fourth Amendment rights and the Connecticut Constitution because defendants conducted the arrests without valid warrants, in the absence of exigent circumstances, and without probable cause to believe that plaintiffs were engaged in unlawful activity. In addition, plaintiffs allege that defendants improperly stopped, detained, investigated, searched and arrested plaintiffs. Plaintiffs also allege that defendants violated their Fourteenth Amendment rights when they intentionally targeted plaintiffs, and arrested and detained them on the basis of their race, ethnicity and perceived national origin. Plaintiffs raise First Amendment, Due Process and tort claims.
Plaintiffs request declaratory relief, damages and attorneys fees.