'Family values' is one of those terms whose meaning largely depends on who's using it. My family values may be different from your family values. But if the term has any consistent meaning at all, it surely includes the idea that family members, not politicians, should decide what is and isn't in their own best interests.
Considering this, it's been disconcerting over the past few weeks to hear Jackson politicians who usually praise 'family values' saying that, in the matter of juvenile curfews, the government, not parents, should decide when children should be indoors. And if children violate the government's curfew? These politicians would have police arrest the children, take them to juvenile detention centers where they would be housed with criminals until they're taken before a judge.
If you are a parent, just imagine your child being arrested, then standing before a judge in an orange jumpsuit, handcuffed, for the great "crime" of being outdoors after 10:00 p.m. You may have even given him or her permission to be outdoors. This is, after all, Mississippi. It's not uncommon here for parents to let their children to walk home from a friend's house at night, walk to a store to get something for the family, or even setup a tent on the front yard and go camping. Yet any one of these activities would get your child arrested under Jackson's proposed curfew law, regardless of whether you gave your child permission.
Are you for family values? Then let the Jackson City Council know they should stick to politicking. We'll stick to caring for our families.
