2020 Election Profile: Jonathon Acosta, RI State Senate District 16
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2020 Election Profile: Jonathon Acosta, RI State Senate District 16
Read what he has to say about why he is running for office.
This is part of an ongoing series by GoLocal featuring each of the candidates for House and Senate.
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1. What do you think is the biggest political issue this campaign season in Rhode Island?
Providing our residents a safe and easy opportunity to exercise their right to vote has become increasingly difficult during the pandemic. I was a plaintiff in the lawsuit seeking to drop the signature requirement for candidates to appear on the ballot. I stand by the legitimacy of mail ballots and would prefer a world in which most people were able to vote rather than one in which people have to go out of their way and potentially put themselves in danger in order to do so. Incumbent elected officials are more concerned with hoarding power than they are with the health and safety of Rhode Islanders.
2. What do we need to do to improve Rhode Island's economy?
We need to increase the spending power of the working class by improving our education system and raising the minimum wage. We’ve built a national and state economy that is heavily reliant on commodity consumption. People with subpar education and low paying jobs are not able to pursue self-actualization or stimulate our economy through their participation in it. Wages have not kept up with inflation so the
buying power of the working class has lagged in the last several decades. If we invest in our education system and raise the wages of the most vulnerable workers, then we’ll see trickle-up economics which stands to benefit way more people than trickle-down economics.
3. What is the greatest challenge facing Rhode Island as a state?
We desperately lack a sense of solidarity or interconnectedness that would allow us to make progress across a variety of fronts. In education, our most affluent districts are performing at the same levels as some of the lowest income districts in
Massachusetts. Improving education would benefit our state, not just our urban core. In municipal governance, Rhode Islanders all over the state moan and groan about how high property taxes are without acknowledging that the State government uses income and sales taxes for its budget. We need more State funds going to municipal governments all over the state without it seeming like an act of charity. With regards to health, if we don’t stamp out and control the spread of disease in our most vulnerable
communities (Central Falls, Pawtucket and Providence), then we can expect it to spread across the state as those workers are forced to go back to work (it’s the residents of the urban core working in the kitchens, construction sites, and factories that keep our economy going). A deeper understanding of our interconnectedness would help us implement policies that affect particular groups in the short term, but all groups in the long term.
4. Why are you running for office? What makes you uniquely qualified?
When our schools were facing budget cuts, our State Senator was nowhere to be found. When we marched against the unjust detention of undocumented people in our city, our State Senator was nowhere to be found. When we submitted a resolution in support of a Woman’s right to choose, she reneged on previous promises and changed her vote on the floor. I’m tired of Central Falls and Pawtucket being treated as charity cases by the General Assembly. We need an elected official who understands the history of our social problems and can develop legislative policies to address them. Moreover, we need someone who can show other members of the legislative body how the issues in my community affect theirs as well. I am the most educated and experienced candidate in my race.
5. Who is your inspiration?
I am inspired by W.E.B. DuBois, the first African American to receive a doctorate from Harvard University. He was an activist, Civil Rights leader, founder of the NAACP, sociologist, professor, and much more. DuBois worked relentlessly for the improvement of his community and the freedom of all oppressed peoples. On average, he published two articles every week of his life and he lived to be 95! He believed that we all have something to offer the world and we simply need to create a society that allows us to bring that forward.
Biography:
Jonathon Acosta is a father, educator, Eagle Scout, youth wrestling coach, and doctoral student in Sociology at Brown University. He was a middle school math teacher in Miami-Dade County and Central Falls before becoming a school administrator. During this time, he earned an MA in Urban Education Policy at Brown and implemented a district-wide teacher evaluation program in cultural competence. Jonathon is a member of the Juvenile Hearing Board and a City Councilman representing Ward 1 in Central Falls, where he has been a strong voice for responsible green city planning, transparency in governance, and affordable housing. His academic work is in political sociology, social stratification, segregation, race, class, and ethnicity.
Campaign Contact Info:
www.jonacosta.com
https://www.facebook.com/Acosta4RI/