We showed up. We stood up. We spoke up. Voices of African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos and Caucasians. Voices of the young (age 7) and voices of the old (75+).
We were heard. By the residents of Carson who honked their car horns in approval. By the Los Angeles Times who sent a photographer to capture images of the event. By KTLA TV who sent both a reporter and a videographer to record our voices and our actions.
Our messages? We delivered three important messages in Carson on March 7, the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s march from Selma.
First, the City of Carson is an outlier and an outlaw that willfully chooses to break the law and to violate court decisions which clearly state that ordinances such as the Carson ordinance are preempted by state law.
Second, registered citizens have civil rights and those rights are being violated by the Carson ordinance which prohibits registered citizens from loitering in or within 300 feet of public places such as libraries, parks, and swimming pools as well as private places such as fast food restaurants.
Third, the City of Carson is hurting families by denying them the opportunity to act as a family. By denying them the opportunity to enjoy a family outing in a park that is supported by their tax dollars.
Our education of the City of Carson, in general, and the Carson City Council, in particular, is not over. We will return to Carson soon to testify before the Carson City Council. And we will face the City of Carson in Los Angles Superior Court, Dept. 77, on June 11 at 8:30 a.m. All are welcome to join us in this public hearing which could decide whether the City of Carson is allowed to continue to break the law, to ignore court decisions solely because City Council members don’t agree with them. If the Judge acts consistently with his oath of office, that is, to abide by the Constitution, he will not allow Carson to continue to break the law, to violate both the state and federal Constitutions.
– Janice Bellucci
Read all of Janice’s Journal
Not exactly Selma, but just as historically important. On the same day as the anniversary, no less. Irony. For a so-called “Christian” country like America, it really does have a fanatical love affair with revenge and hate while getting off on watching the pain, misery and suffering of others.
Great job guys! This is amazing!
We were on the 6:30 PM KTLA channel 5 News report and it was quite fairly presented. I’m not sure where you can see it it you missed it but try their web page and find the Saturday report.
I’ll be interested to see what, if anything, is in the Los Angeles Times tomorrow but as of this hour there is nothing that I could find on their web page.
I’m surprised (NOT!) the local anti american civic leaders failed to show up and take advantage of the media coverage to tell everyone why the constitution shouldn’t apply to registrants and why they shouldn’t have to obey state law.
Great job everyone. I regret I had to work today and missed this event; but timmr filled me in on the days events 🙂
lonovati said “I feel we are borderlining on condoning or excusing our crimes and offenses.”
Nope, if we were doing that, then our re-offense rate would be higher than 2%.
Three Cheers to all of you!! Looks like something my family and I would have been proud to be a part of. I look forward to the positive press and the dialogues on TV and radio that I hope will come of this. Thanks to you who participated for all of us who could not this time.
lonovati contradicts himself by saying “Should we have rights? Absolutely.
Should we be allowed to go on and live productive lives? Yes, we should!”
And then goes on to say ” I’m sorry but ultimately they did nothing to deserve the discrimination, where as we did.”
Make up your mind.
Oh lonovati, what you fail to understand is that for perhaps many on they registry, they, too, did nothing to deserve this discrimination. Some of California’s penal codes (statutory “rape”) don’t even exist in about 30 other states. Others have victimless “crimes” who were either lured and trapped in a sting or may have unknowingly downloaded/viewed unlawful material. Some didn’t even involve sexual acts. There are even those who were falsely accused but may have been scared into taking a plea (such as in my case). Believe it or not, “victims” DO lie as a means of getting revenge; I’m not saying it happens all the time, but it does happen.
You stated that “ultimately those heroes only had to be born to be singled out and targeted by society.” I will go out on a limb and say that registrants, too, our singled out and targeted by society from birth. Men now live in fear of children and women because any action they make can be misinterpreted simply because they are men, and this goes across all color lines.
A vast majority of registrants are not the monsters that politicians will have the sheeple believe. There are those who are truly guilty of their crimes that were just poor decision making. But how many people have made a poor decision that is illegal but never got caught? If every single person had been caught making a 290 registrable mistake, you can flip the numbers; 800,000 people across the country would be NON-registrants. Because yes, even young children, can be registered for “playing doctor”, but guess who would be punished in that situation…males.
This march was a good start for protests. This set a very good, peaceful tone to be attached to registrants. This is helpful going forward to build upon. And with this one going smoothly, despite being in the heart of one of the most hateful places toward us, should help encourage more people to join in future protests.
And we need more and bigger protests and regularly, and not just against local ordinances, but just simply against registration itself on the state level. You simply cannot even justify having to check in/go in as if on probation or parole, not even if it is put in tiers. It is not sentencing, so probation or parole conditions are not legitimate, much less all the other collateral disabilities that have been added on.
Bravo to CA RSOL and all the participants. Let this snowball roll.
Re: lonovati.
Lonovati raises the same complaint Leveled at homosexuals When they would speak in terms that drew similarities with the civil rights and famous black movements. The comment was, gay people can choose to stay in the closet, or not be gay.
But I think the fear of black people was the principle driving force behind racial descrimination and so it was when homosexuals
for 25 years had to register as sex offenders in california.
Fear of sex offenders is justified in a more direct and logical way to some registrants, but clearly not all, but the law doesnt recognize this, sonow every person made to reigister is treated as if they are a threat to children. That is absurd and unfair. So, just that gives us something in common with civil rights abuses. On the radio, kfi am 640, Bill Carrol said we should all be locked up and loose the keys. Great! I am now thanks to the law such a problem that I shouldnt even be out in public let alone free to walk around as if I am safe to be at mccdonalds, or a public park. Some people may be a threat to children, but most of them are yet to be caught so I don’t think registrants outin public are an identifiable threat because not one of them is a child abductor, that carries a life sentance, so if we are to be burdened with their reputation and punished for it legally based on fear, then there are connectionsbetween our civil rights movement and those like Selma AL, it just is not a racial connection and the reasinable person is not going to say that this is drawing similarities between black people and sex registrants, but the abuse of power to create a class of people burdened by fears they don’t deserve is very similar and if you can’t see that clearly it is because you already believe the fear is justified here. It isnt. I have never even considered offending anyone sexually, adult or otherwise, yet after all I have been put through, I have to every day deal with the question, should I alliw the terrorists that have done this to my life live or should I do to them what America would do to them if they tool our oil fields? That is a heavy burden to bare for the rest of my life.
The only coverage in the Sunday Los Angeles Times was buried in the B section, on B6 (left hand page), at the bottom. It was only a pic with a short caption, not a story. A good size pic, but I am disappointed that they did not choose one showing the overall participation but instead chose one that made it look like just a handful of people is all there was, and just standing around looking bored. A line of 50 people marching with signs would have made a much more impressive picture and fuller report. But then, the Times has not been friendly to us for quite some time. Gee, to me the pic looks like they were more intent on picking a photo that showed the faces of sex offenders than in showing the crowd that participated — and they specifically named two of the people in the photo.
I have uploaded the pic to:
http://oi57.tinypic.com/x3h0ci.jpg
Those of us who could not March this weekend can still support the cause.
Please, please, please if you haven’t called the Governor about the San Diego parole office and finding out who made the decision to tell parole officers not help 290 parolees find housing, please call and voice your feelings. The guy I talked to last week was interested in what I had to say. Suggest the Governor read the Taylor opinion. If you haven’t read it yet, read it, what they did in San Diego is appalling. Maybe we could all send a copy of the opinion to the Governor. This is a state issue and he might get involved in it if he gets enough pressure. It was a local decision, it has to do with this fight, it was in the papers recently and whoever is responsible in San Diego NEEDS TO LOSE THEIR JOB. If people in power see someone actually pay a price for a spiteful decision affecting 290 registrants they may think twice about what they do in the future.
Governor Brown’s phone number is 916-445-2841. You can email him from his home page, https://govnews.ca.gov/gov39mail/mail.php
I also called the reporter from the Mercury news to find out if he is planning a follow up. He said he is waiting for a response from the CDCR. So yes, it sounds like he will be following up. I told him I would like to read a story about who the decision maker is at the San Diego CDCR. Call your local paper and suggest the same.
If you haven’t called Diane Jacob in San Diego please leave her a POLITE message this weekend. Tell her she owes registered citizens and their families a public apology for suggesting registrants should not have any rights. Tell her you don’t appreciate public officials reinforcing stereotypes and lies about who is on the list and who is affected by the list. Mention your children. Maybe suggest she owes the citizens of California a public apology for suggesting such un-American views about the Constitution and remind her it is our Constitution that makes this country great and the envy of the world. Express shock that she would say such things on the anniversary of the March on Selma. She is just a county supervisor and I bet she gets less than 10 calls from the public a day. Let’s fill up her voicemail this weekend with POLITE messages voicing concern regarding her lack of knowledge and research about the registry. Remind her that she is an elected official and registrants, their family members and friends live in her district. If she knows we will inundate her with calls and emails maybe she will just not say anything else going forward.
San Diego County Board Supervisor Dianne Jacob at (619) 531-5522, dianne.jacob@sdcounty.ca.gov
It would be great if we could develop local RSOL action groups in each and every county in California. A point of contact for each county for Those at the state level of RSOL (Janice, Chance, Frank and other staffers) We need to create a web across this state and strengthen that web with the talents of each member. The nature of my job is to engage people at their local hair salon. The more we engage the deeper our efforts will matter. Get involved with helping local officials getting elected. If we engage those in office on the campaign trail for good it’s harder for them to engage against us with harm. Well, it is a great way to practice fighting for ourselves if nothing else. The media interviewed many of us and whether they go on air with our protest or not we at least got some valuable experience. Next time it would be nice to have a camera on the media covering the protest that doesn’t go on air and that way we can at least post it on You Tube and video share the non-coverage of the event…We can still request of the station to give us a copy the B-roll coverage. Perhaps even for a price if needed.
I march for the Constitution to be applied equally to everyone. I didn’t march for “sex offenders”, but for those who are struggling to be allowed to be peaceful and productive citizens. There are rules in the Constitution that say how laws should be applied to all people without arbitrary discrimination. Yes, it is unconscionable that blacks and Latinos are incarcerated at a higher rate for taking or using drugs, for example, than their white counterparts. They are incarcerated for all crimes, including sex crimes, at a greater rate than their white brothers. People on the registry are subject to post sentence restrictions, because their crime had the label “sex” on it, which somehow makes them sub citizens, sub humans, monsters, etc., excluded from Constitutional protection; whereas, people who maybe just beat there kids or killed one while driving drunk, if the crime was “only” motivated by hate, greed, jealousy or some other more “acceptable” emotion, you are not put on a lifetime list for exclusion from Constitutional fairness. That arbitrariness makes it exactly like the other forms of discrimination. I just happen to be part of this register community, but I think we all need to get together and end institutional discrimination in all forms.
here is the event link for presstelegram article by Sandy Mazza
http://www.presstelegram.com/social-affairs/20150306/registered-sex-offenders-to-march-on-carson-city-hall-to-fight-restrictions
Ionovati…
You can be unfairly discriminated against for many reasons. The Selma marchers reflected all that was good in America at that time.The CARSOL marchers held the same dignity of peaceful protest in their march. Ionovati, you seem to buy into the same grouping of ‘registrants’ as is used to collectively restrict registrants in a one-size-restricts-all fashion. In the Taylor Case, the California Supreme Court ruled this should be done on a case-by-case basis. Not sure what state you’re in but check out the decision.
Some examples of other valid demonstrations inspired by the Selma Protest…. these examples may be outside of the U.S but still show that discrimination can be based on other things than ethnic discrimination and still be valid…Hungary, 1956 protesting communism for taking away peoples rights, the protest in Prague protesting dictatorship in general where the Soviets came in to topple Dubcek, Tiananmen Square 1989, etc. Even in the U.S, Ionovati, can you say the anti-Vietnam war protests were not valid? Anti-war marches not valid protests?
Bravo to those who engage in the actions!! We have nothing like it in Central California.
And to registration: it is punishment for crimes you might—or might not—commit at some indefinite time in the future.
Unless you are a very small minority of people, registration is PUNISHMENT for what SOMEONE ELSE did, does, or MIGHT DO in the future.
I for one am proud of all of those who participated in the march. I only wish I was there but alas I still live in fear of further exposure.
Thank you so much Janice, your are the light at the end of the tunnel and clearly care about our rights as people.
I’m curious;
What is the point of returning to the council meetings at the City of Carson to testify or educate them? It seems that they should have had all the reasonable, and then some, information on this issue a long time ago.
Why not just wait till June and then watch them sink in court and have to pay out the big bucks AND be DIRECTLY ordered by the court to comply?
OR
If THEY don’t want to wait, and would now like to go along with the program, for just attorney’s fees, why not sit back and make them come to you?
Thanks Janice and all that attended your all heroes and inspiration for us all. If only all the US could be as American as you guys.
KFI’S John & Ken are about to talk about the Carson March. Time now 400P PM 3/11/2015.
Janice,
It’s too bad those two jerks went to appeal to the lowest common denominator rather than engage in a serious adult discussion of this issue. You handled yourself beautifully. It reminded me of trying to talk to my 3 year old down from a tantrum. It just ain’t gonna happen.
NPR would probably provide more receptive hosts and audiences.
This goes to show you don’t have to be that smart to be successful as a Clear Channel/I Heart Radio/I Heart Media/I Heart Hate shockjock AM radio moron. Great interview.
M said “I was also offended that they said … “We don’t want a history lesson … ”
Turns out they did need that history lesson. The shockjocks had a deer-in-the-headlights meltdown moment when told about lie detector tests being used currently. The shockjock, when told about polygraph tests given to all paroled registered citizens, did not understand that if a registered citizen parolee did have fantasies of violent rape, the polygraph would catch that. The shockjock became incoherent at that point and looked silly. Those shockjocks seem to really hate the crime John Walsh admitted to. Rape of 16 year olds is the only example the one angry shockjock wanted to discuss. Is the tough-on-crime shockjock biting the hand of John Walsh, a tough-on-crime likely hero of his, now? Those shockjocks really sounded stupid when talking about the courts on recent decisions on presence and residency restrictions…It was the ‘California Supreme Court’ that did not take the case of reviewing presence restrictions that a ‘panel of judges’ from the 4th district appeals court found unconstitutional and it was the ‘California Supreme Court’ who decided blanket residency restrictions are unconstitutional. Not ‘one judge in San Diego’, as the angrier shockjock claimed at the beginning of the interview. The California Supreme Court or an Orange County panel of judges on the 4th District Court being ‘one judge in San Diego’ is about as accurate as the rest of their sorry rhetoric.