Featuring: Artem NexGen interviewed Oz Hill, during his campaign for city council
Entering the race for Atlanta City What moment drove you to get
involved in this area? What moment drove you to get involved in this
area?
It’s probably appropriate to say that public service is in my DNA. All of my adult life I have possessed a penchant for being of service to others. It is rare that a day goes by that I don’t recall the charge that Dr. Stanley H. Smith, President, Shaw University; shared with me at my graduation commencement ceremony. He said, “Be ashamed to die without serving humanity’s cause!” Dr. Smith’s words were nurtured and cultivated in me by the example my parents demonstrated for me all of my life through their faith-based, political, civic, and entrepreneurial efforts to serve their community. In 2005, I offered myself for public service in the City of Sandy Springs, Georgia. Although I did not win the election, the campaign went into a run-off, and resulted an opportunity for me to serve on the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals. As I looked at the national contemporary political environment of 2017, I became acutely aware this is the time for all Americans to be engaged in serving their communities and safeguarding the values which have made our country great and appear to be under attack.
Which aspects of the political field do you find the most intriguing?
I find policy development, implementation, and execution to achieve desired outcomes at every echelon of government most intriguing. All too often our congressional elected officials’ policy agendas dominate the news cycle; and I recognize their efforts are most important to development of federal laws and policies. However, I believe the impact of federal and state laws are prominently realized at the municipal/local-level of government. Metaphorically speaking, a punch delivered by the long arm of the federal government may take some time to land on the chin of a municipal community, but the impact of a punch that is delivered by a local government on the community it serves is immediate. Ultimately, all politics are local.
What area in the political field do you find the most challenging?
In my opinion, the most challenging aspect of political public service is consensus building among special interest constituencies, who are competing for limited resources, and have disparate agendas. The art-form of political policymaking is finding the commonalities in competing agendas and special interests that will allow compromise in the best interest of the greater good for all constituents.
Public servants do a lot for their constituents while in office. However, the most valuable work that they perform is not in their job description. How have you used your position to make a difference (either in the issues you advocate for or in your community)?
Part of my political platform is to bring awareness of issues which are important to the district’s under-served neighborhoods, as well as, issues that City of Atlanta, rank and file employees confront that inhibit their capacity to perform their jobs effectively. Although fully committed to winning the election, if I am able to give voice to issues that otherwise will go unnoticed, our campaign will have achieved a measure of success.
How do you plan to continue making a positive impact on District 1 of Atlanta on your ongoing campaign?
My candidacy and our campaign is only a beginning to advocate for all District 1 residents and community members. The knowledge of city ordinances and policies, along with my familiarity of the district’s issues will not end with the election or service on as a council member. I am committed to doing my part to ensure District 1 and the City of Atlanta fulfills its promise of being a “world-class” city and a great place to live, work, and recreate.
In your experience as a public servant, what are some of the most valuable lessons you have learned?
The most valuable lessons I have learned in offering myself for public service are simple, but profound:
- Politics done right is about addition and multiplication; not subtraction and division…political leaders should be catalysts for bringing people together, as opposed to creating divisions among them based on competing ideologies, agendas, and interests.
- The greater your influence and office, the more important it is you listen more to those who are most impacted by your decisions and policies. Conversely, those who receive the brunt of your decisions and policies are obligated to share their perspectives or speak more.
- Generally, there are always some who adversely impacted in some fashion when developing policies or making decisions regarding limited or constrained resources in the public domain…the adverse impacts must always be considered in decision-making.
What changes to the political scene lie ahead at the local and state level?
I am not certain the changes to the political framework are exclusive to the local and state levels of government. I believe the changes and challenges related to truth and honesty, in healthy and rigorous opposing political discourse are prevalent at every level of government. Also, the security of our democratic voting processes may possibly result in a technical revolution in how ballots are casts to ensure the integrity of the country’s democratic political system.
How can Americans ensure a participatory democracy and politically literate citizens?
I think the solution to ensure Americans are politically literate and engaged in the political process has two key components, education of the American citizenry and incentivized participation in the political process by combining participation to other privileges American citizens are afforded. Education must in our elementary and secondary school curriculums and activities, with civics classes and student body electoral processes. Consideration for a driver’s license, student loan, SBA loan and other federal programs could possibly be linked to participation in the voting process…what if there was a small tax credit for voting participation?
What opportunities are available to help politically interested students get involved in government?
Elected officials and candidates are always looking for volunteers. Also, there are countless opportunities for grass roots participation with community organizations. Remember, former President Obama began his political career as a community organizer.
For the upcoming generation of political leaders, what might they expect when they are starting to work or begin working in their field?
The upcoming generation of political leaders should expect to be challenged by the status quo, by apathetic constituents, and by the power elite who want to retain their influence and control. It will be incumbent upon them to have a sense of purpose and self to prevail against the odds they will confront.
Political issues comprise most of America’s news coverage. However, relatively few people are politically literate or in possession of critical thinking skills needed to comprehend both sides of an argument. What advice would you give to aspiring politicians to overcome/avoid this challenge?
Aspiring politicians can overcome the challenge(s) can by refining their communication skills and artfully being able to communicate with constituents on a level that reflects understanding and empathy for their circumstance. The communication must be accomplished in a manner which educates, informs, and impresses upon constituents the relevance of their participation in the political process and developing the critical thinking skills that will empower them to determine what is in their best interests, as opposed to having someone else do that for them who may not have their best interest in mind.
Artem NexGen leader interviews the former Senator of Maryland, David Harrington.
Want to host an interview or participate further with our organization? Contact us to let us now!
Civil Activism
Civic activism is more than meets the eye. One should know the basics of writing to an elected official before composing it to them. Here are some general rules:
- Keep the letter to one page, if possible.
- If you are a constituent, say so.
- Be polite and respectful: your message will be heard.
- Never threaten to hold your vote over their head.
- Use the proper title:
- To senators: Dear Sen. Blank
- To representatives: Dear Mr./Mrs. Blank
- To the House Speaker: Dear Mr. Speaker
- To a mayor: Dear Mayor Blank
- To members of the House of Lords: Dear Lord/Lady/Archbishop/Countess Blank
- To members of the House of Commons: Dear Mr./Mrs./Ms. Blank
- Emphasize important information by underlining it (do try to minimize the amount of underlining)
- Always thank the official for their time: they are busy people too.
State why you are contacting them
Example: I write to you today in support of/in opposition to…
- Give your reasons for holding your position.
- Give an action that they can take to support your cause (supporting/opposing legislation in Congress, enacting new guidance for executive branch)
- Give a gentle sense of urgency with words like “overdue”, “much-needed”, and “vital”.
- Always thank them.
Sample Letter:
Rep. Alcee Hastings
2353 Rayburn Office Building
Washington, D.C.
Dear Mr. Hastings,
I am writing to you today in support of H.R. 2868 - the National Flood Insurance Policyholders’ Protection Act.
As someone who recently moved to Florida, I fully understand the need for flood insurance to protect against natural disasters. However, FEMA and government-mandated flood insurance influenced the location in which I sought to buy a house. This has been a trend not only throughout Broward and Palm Beach County, but Florida as a whole. Well-to-do people will move to areas where flood insurance is not mandatory, while the less affluent find themselves in older neighborhoods that are more prone to flooding. Thus, minorities and the working class are forced to buy costly insurance policies purely because of the location of their home.
As this bill proposes, limiting flood insurance premiums to $10,000 would ease the burden on households across America and end the current policy of regressive taxation - all at a minimal cost to the federal government.
Even though I reside just outside your district’s boundaries, I urge you to stand with your colleagues on both sides of the aisle to pass this much-needed reform.
Thank you for your time,
Jacob Dyrud
2353 Rayburn Office Building
Washington, D.C.
Dear Mr. Hastings,
I am writing to you today in support of H.R. 2868 - the National Flood Insurance Policyholders’ Protection Act.
As someone who recently moved to Florida, I fully understand the need for flood insurance to protect against natural disasters. However, FEMA and government-mandated flood insurance influenced the location in which I sought to buy a house. This has been a trend not only throughout Broward and Palm Beach County, but Florida as a whole. Well-to-do people will move to areas where flood insurance is not mandatory, while the less affluent find themselves in older neighborhoods that are more prone to flooding. Thus, minorities and the working class are forced to buy costly insurance policies purely because of the location of their home.
As this bill proposes, limiting flood insurance premiums to $10,000 would ease the burden on households across America and end the current policy of regressive taxation - all at a minimal cost to the federal government.
Even though I reside just outside your district’s boundaries, I urge you to stand with your colleagues on both sides of the aisle to pass this much-needed reform.
Thank you for your time,
Jacob Dyrud
Fair Use Policies for Businesses
Images and logos often act as the outward face of companies. However, building business isn’t like doing a highschool powerpoint. Using unowned images as one’s potential logo, website decorations/background, or even on the company’s social media posts are not, in many circumstances, under legal protection from the lawsuits of the respected copyright owner(s). Placing or citing image urls under those posted images hold no guarantee of it being protected for following the current U.S Fair Use policies (pertaining to the rights to use copyrighted images). When using any images of other owners for business purposes. it is important to gain (preferably written) approval by the owners for its use on your potential websites, catalogs, logos, etc. However, we have an alternative! Royalty free images in the public domain can be used by your company freely!
Here’s our top two websites that offer in-search public domain images:
https://pixabay.com/
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
- Be sure to check if the images are free for commercial use as well
If you decide to use unlicensed images for your business, logo, or website, please make sure to review the the fair use policies linked below.
https://www.copyright.gov/fair-use/more-info.html
http://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/fair-use/what-is-fair-use/
Here’s our top two websites that offer in-search public domain images:
https://pixabay.com/
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
- Be sure to check if the images are free for commercial use as well
If you decide to use unlicensed images for your business, logo, or website, please make sure to review the the fair use policies linked below.
https://www.copyright.gov/fair-use/more-info.html
http://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/fair-use/what-is-fair-use/
Digital Laws over Pirating
Digital information laws do not stop at Fair Use Policies. So, before any replication and distribution of digital content for financial gain, I suggest you be aware of all legal repercussions if it is used unlawfully without the copyright owner’s permission. The following information some may not find they need now but other may find it to be critical to be aware of or to know for later, especially for individuals who want to become well established online. This, like other posted contents, is not intended to act as formal legal advice documents, rather as helpful content for members.
So, what is Pirating? Pirating is an illegal way of stealing copyrighted digital information and posting or selling it without the consent of the original owner.
While many may find this at times a difficult topic to relate to, it might be easier to understand by some when it is more seemingly relatable. We seem to be just starting to gallop away the Wild West Era of Internet and Acts are being, and have been, executed to regulate the individual and corporate rights over posting online images and content. Businesses have lobbied together in the past to produce the Copyright Act of 1976, The Piracy and Counterfeiting Act of 1984, The Digital Millennium Act of 1998, and the Family Entertainment Act of 2005. Recently they have pressed Congress to try to install the SOPA & PIPA Acts, which both will “attempt” to stop pirating. Steve Jobs, stated when he was the head of Apple that “It is piracy, not overt online music stores, which is our main competitor.” These SOPA & PIPA Acts have caused many protest by many online users. The common arguments used against those proposals are that it does not attack the heart of piracy, rather may causes more harm to content posted on social medias, bloggers, YouTubers, and website owners, rather than for regulating the larger piracy hosting sites.
For example: US Representative and Philanthropist Jared Polis commented that he “oppose(s) piracy and want(s) to see intellectual property protected because that is what fosters and rewards innovation”. But SOPA won't accomplish a meaningful reduction in piracy and causes massive collateral damage to the Internet ecosystem.”
To be clear companies such as Netflix, Hulu, and Vudu are not pirating sites; companies like these buy the right to provide their audience with movies and TV shows that are paid by the audience or commercials. Some companies such of PirateBay easily get around the Digital Millennium Copyright Act placed to stop online pirating. They do this by acting as a hosting site of piracy, rather than pirating in countries that do not follow all the DMCA standard, such as Sweden. Even with a list of numerous threats and lawsuits, PirateBay claims it has not shut down a single one of its hosted content. The laws governing piracy may increase as well with the popularity of the 3D printer, a printer capable of producing 3D plastic and assorted objects based entirely off of computer programming. When launching or developing one’s business or aspirations, it can be important to consider the legal requirements of online content, as well as obtaining knowledge that may be useful for discovering on the future trends and extensive possibilities.
Our Sources:
Kain, Erik. "Does Online Piracy Hurt The Entertainment Industry?" Forbes. N.p., 21 Jan. 12. Web. http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/01/21/does-online-piracy-hurt-the-economy-a-look-at-the-numbers/
"Infographic: Music Pirates Buy More Digital Music." Statista Infographics. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2014.
http://www.statista.com/chart/659/digital-music-collection-of-us-adults-by-file-source/
"Online Piracy." Online Piracy RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2014
http://piracy.web.unc.edu/brief-history-of-online-piracy/
N.p., n.d. Web. https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/response/combating-online-piracy-while-protecting-open-and-innovative-internet
“Antipiracy measures” Issues & Controversies. Infobase Learning.26 March, 2012. http://www.infobaselearning.com/icofprintarticle.aspx?articleID=2237aa&citation=mla/
"WHY COPYRIGHT MATTERS." Motion Picture Association of America. N.p., n.d. Web. <http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mpaa.org%2Fwhy-copyright-matters%2F%231http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mpaa.org%2Fwhy-copyright-matters%2F%231>.
So, what is Pirating? Pirating is an illegal way of stealing copyrighted digital information and posting or selling it without the consent of the original owner.
While many may find this at times a difficult topic to relate to, it might be easier to understand by some when it is more seemingly relatable. We seem to be just starting to gallop away the Wild West Era of Internet and Acts are being, and have been, executed to regulate the individual and corporate rights over posting online images and content. Businesses have lobbied together in the past to produce the Copyright Act of 1976, The Piracy and Counterfeiting Act of 1984, The Digital Millennium Act of 1998, and the Family Entertainment Act of 2005. Recently they have pressed Congress to try to install the SOPA & PIPA Acts, which both will “attempt” to stop pirating. Steve Jobs, stated when he was the head of Apple that “It is piracy, not overt online music stores, which is our main competitor.” These SOPA & PIPA Acts have caused many protest by many online users. The common arguments used against those proposals are that it does not attack the heart of piracy, rather may causes more harm to content posted on social medias, bloggers, YouTubers, and website owners, rather than for regulating the larger piracy hosting sites.
For example: US Representative and Philanthropist Jared Polis commented that he “oppose(s) piracy and want(s) to see intellectual property protected because that is what fosters and rewards innovation”. But SOPA won't accomplish a meaningful reduction in piracy and causes massive collateral damage to the Internet ecosystem.”
To be clear companies such as Netflix, Hulu, and Vudu are not pirating sites; companies like these buy the right to provide their audience with movies and TV shows that are paid by the audience or commercials. Some companies such of PirateBay easily get around the Digital Millennium Copyright Act placed to stop online pirating. They do this by acting as a hosting site of piracy, rather than pirating in countries that do not follow all the DMCA standard, such as Sweden. Even with a list of numerous threats and lawsuits, PirateBay claims it has not shut down a single one of its hosted content. The laws governing piracy may increase as well with the popularity of the 3D printer, a printer capable of producing 3D plastic and assorted objects based entirely off of computer programming. When launching or developing one’s business or aspirations, it can be important to consider the legal requirements of online content, as well as obtaining knowledge that may be useful for discovering on the future trends and extensive possibilities.
Our Sources:
Kain, Erik. "Does Online Piracy Hurt The Entertainment Industry?" Forbes. N.p., 21 Jan. 12. Web. http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/01/21/does-online-piracy-hurt-the-economy-a-look-at-the-numbers/
"Infographic: Music Pirates Buy More Digital Music." Statista Infographics. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2014.
http://www.statista.com/chart/659/digital-music-collection-of-us-adults-by-file-source/
"Online Piracy." Online Piracy RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2014
http://piracy.web.unc.edu/brief-history-of-online-piracy/
N.p., n.d. Web. https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/response/combating-online-piracy-while-protecting-open-and-innovative-internet
“Antipiracy measures” Issues & Controversies. Infobase Learning.26 March, 2012. http://www.infobaselearning.com/icofprintarticle.aspx?articleID=2237aa&citation=mla/
"WHY COPYRIGHT MATTERS." Motion Picture Association of America. N.p., n.d. Web. <http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mpaa.org%2Fwhy-copyright-matters%2F%231http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mpaa.org%2Fwhy-copyright-matters%2F%231>.