Civil rights advocates concerned with Trump’s pick to lead DOJ civil rights division
Civil rights advocates are raising alarm over President Trump’s nominee to lead the Justice Department’s civil rights division.
Trump nominated attorney Eric Dreiband, who has represented corporations on matters such as civil rights and employment discrimination, to lead the DOJ’s civil rights division on Thursday.
Dreiband has represented various corporations such as Bloomberg, CVS Pharmacy and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. He also served in George W. Bush’s administration as general counsel for the Equal Opportunity Commission.However, the official who led the division under former President Obama issued a statement saying Dreiband is “the wrong person for the job.”
“He has opposed important legislation to safeguard our civil rights. And he has no known experience in most of the Civil Rights Division’s core issue areas, such as voting rights, police reform, housing, education, and hate crimes. He is the wrong person for the job,” Vanita Gupta, who now leads the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights said in a statement.
“Dreiband’s nomination, however, continues the Trump administration’s disturbing trend of retreating from — if not outright undermining — fundamental civil rights priorities,” the NAACP Legal Defense Fund said in a statement on Medium.
The White House pushed back on the claims against Dreiband saying nominees are selected based “on the merits of their character and not on the clients they once represented as counsel.”
“Mr. Dreiband is highly qualified to run the civil rights division, and we are privileged to have his service,” White House spokeswoman Kelly Love told CNN.
Should all the those in the chronic pain community and others that are covered under the Civil Rights Act and the Americans with Disability Act start to align with each other… to CAUSE CHANGE ?
Filed under: General Problems
My Life, [Medication-shortages and heavy metal impostors], psychological and physical torture began with Obama. I have not voted since. Wiki….”first president in history to sell-out human and civil rights of a certain group, the dissed-abled. Bush, Obama, Trump, too much backdoor shock and awes, lies, and dismantling of rights.
This war on “opioids” is actually turning into a war on a chronic disease, which is pain. 100 million Americans have one or more chronic incurable pain Disease. As the CDC, DEA, FDA, Medicaid and Medicare, and numerous other government agencies, are blaming Doctors for the over prescribing of opioid medication. NOBODY, is looking at or reading the statistics from chronic pain disease patients. How about NOT addressing these drugs as dangerous and addictive. When all else fails: physical therapy, exercise, over the counter medications and numerous injections etc, we chronic pain disease patients, are left with one option to help us cope, opioid pain medication. Lets address this medication as lifesaving and medically necessary for the million of Americans with chronic diseases. Chronic pain is a disease. Chronic pain disease patients are now the epidemic. The addiction rate of chronic pain disease patients is .02-.6 %. We do not misuse or abuse our medications.
No other disease medication is scrutinized. We, as patients, are being denied, dismissed, overlooked and discriminated against, by our physicians, due to all the scrutiny associated with treating chronic pain disease with opioid medications. Our Dr’s are afraid to treat us humanely and adequately. We have a disease that medication is readily accessible to us and we are being denied. We, pain patients, are being discriminated against, due to people who abuse illegal heroin, illegal fentanyl and/or misuse opioid medication and place the blame on everyone but themselves. This is a direct hunt for Doctors who prescribe life saving medication, for pain disease patients, that benefit from them. We have our privacy invaded, we no longer are able to have doctor/patient confidentiality. We now have insurance agencies, pharmacists, and other government agencies in our physicians offices. Monitoring and policing our physicians.
Though the statistics show a reduction in, medically needed, opioid medications, death rates of overdoses from illegal opioids is rising. This system and laws are obviously not working.
The specific causes of deaths also needs to be closely investigated. The opioid in the person’s system needs to be specified. Was it an illegal opioid, was it opioid medication specifically for that person, was there other drugs or alcohol involved. All these questions need answers.
We have a chronic disease. We want to be able to take care of our homes, our children, our selves, as much as possible, but without access to these life saving medications, we are unable to do so. We want to live, not just exist in pain 24/7.
We need the government agencies to look at the real statistics, not the hand picked. These agencies are not physicians. They are trying to doctor us, patients, without a medical license. They are also trying to police our physicians. This is a war on a disease, medications, physicians and patients.
The statistics do not differentiate what opioid drug attribute to a fatal overdose or misuse of medication. Was is an illegal drug, heroin, illegal fentanyl, carfentynal, was that person’s legitimate medication? All these questions need answers. The information needs to be addressed.
We need help. All the headlines, topics and stories on how opioids are bad and how people are abusing, misusing, overdosing, becoming addicted or dying from them. We need to look at the good they do and how they help our disease of chronic pain and the million of Americans who use them for some relief.
The government needs to put the focus on illegal drugs coming into, being manufactured and distributed in this country, illegal fentanyl, illegal heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and all other ILLEGAL DRUGS. People who abuse and misuse medication, not prescribed to them, illegal drugs, alcohol, sex, whatever it may be, will always find a way. Put the focus on that. Not the legally and medically necessary medications we patients need.