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NEW YORK - As 2016 draws to a close, one organization has issued a set of New Year's resolutions calling on mothers everywhere to preserve advances in human rights.
Moms United to End the War on Drugs was founded seven years ago to fight policies the group says destroy families and promote mass incarceration. However, lead organizer Gretchen Burns Bergman, executive director of A New PATH, said she feels the sharp and sometimes violent political tensions of the past year threaten to undermine decades of progress - not only in drug-law reform but also a host of social-justice issues.
"The main message," she said, "is remain vigilant, get organized, get connected, resist and defend our values."
The complete list of seven New Year's resolutions is online at momsunited.net. They include resisting all forms of prejudice and bigotry, and promoting peace and tolerance in the face of hatred.
Bergman said her years of advocacy against the so-called "war on drugs" have convinced her that it is intrinsically connected to attacks on reproductive rights, on the poor and immigrants, and to rising racial tensions, "and that it was time to kind of expand that, and to say that we need to dig in and protect the rights of all human beings."
During the first seven days of January, she said, Moms United will be using social media to promote the resolutions, which will remain a focus of the group's activities throughout the year.
Throughout history, Bergman said, mothers have come forward to demand sensible policies for the sake of their children, and that continues today.
"Moms are saying that we will resist and protect, and protest and promote and fight," she said, "and we won't allow our principles and our values and our human rights and dignity to be decimated."
More information is online at momsunited.net.
