There are two opportunities to show up, stand up and speak up on the horizon. The first opportunity is the third annual vigil near the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. on March 3. The second opportunity is the fifteenth annual Lobby Day in Sacramento, California, on March 25.
Both opportunities provide the possibility to be heard if you are ready. Or to join in silence if you are not. Both opportunities will empower you as you experience or observe the power of speaking truth to power.
Both of these events will be successful but the level of success will depend upon how many people join in. The more people who show up, the more we are seen. The more voices that are spoken, the more we are heard.
We have important messages to share. The first and foremost is that registration is punishment regardless of what the U.S. Supreme Court has decided. We need to take the evidence of this punishment to the places where change can be made.
We do not need to suffer silently as the number of people required to register continues to grow. Instead, we need to educate the Court, the legislature and the public about the many ways in which those required to register and their families suffer.
Unemployment. Homelessness. Vigilante violence. The breakup of families. This is only the beginning of the list.
Another example includes the addition of a Scarlet letter to the passports of U.S. citizens. The only other countries that have ever engaged in this practice were Nazi Germany and the USSR. Not a club to which the U.S. should belong.
Our movement is growing. As evidence of that fact, for the first time 43 organizations that support registrants and their families reached an agreement. We pushed aside our differences in order to focus on what needed to be done – prepare and send a letter to the U.S. Supreme Court justices notifying them of the vigil on March 3. Joining forces to prepare and send this letter to the Court is a huge step forward and could be a signal that we are ready to join forces in the future.
You have heard me say it often, but it’s never too often. It’s time to Show Up, Stand Up and Speak Up in Washington, D.C., on March 3, and in Sacramento, California, on March 25.
I hope to see you there!
-Janice
Click here to sign up for Lobby Day
Click here to sign up for the DC conference
The DA in the county I’m in regurally will offer defendants the choice of a certain amount of time in jail, usually 2-5 years OR one year or less but have their names on the registry. Most will pick the less time not realizing how difficult their lives will be on the registry.
Most people who are not on the registry, including attorneys, do not understand the daily challenges faced by registrants and their families.
I wish I could go. I can’t afford to go anywhere. Hell I am lucky if I can find a way to keep a roof over my head. This is the problem for most of us. I wish you all the best of luck and a safe return to your homes. Janice stay safe. I know you and I don’t always agree. However, I am thankful for the couple of times I had to call on you for assistance. Even though I couldn’t afford to take things where they needed to be, at least I was able to get somewhere out of danger. If someone heard the many stories of all of the people like me. People who have done their best to live an upstanding life on the registry, but deal with continual immense challenges and life threatening danger from outside sources. To have seen our families and friends suffer with us or even for us just for being a part of our lives. Those of us who live life mostly alone, hopeless to find anyone to have as a companion and keep our loved ones at bay for their own safety. Who have suffered at the hands of violent and threatening vigilantes. Knowing that you can’t call law enforcement for help, they aren’t coming or if they do, it’s a o investigate you and not those who have committed crimes against you or your loved ones. It’s hard sometimes just to motivate to get out of bed. [PRF need to work together to improve our situation, if not in our lifetime, then at least for the next generation]. For those that trudge on, struggle another day, you aren’t alone. There are nearly 1,000,0000 of us. For those that couldn’t fight another day, my heart goes out to you and your family and may you finally have peace. For those murdered by vigilantes, I hope your deaths are not in vain. That those of us still standing can muster the strength and courage to fight the law with the law until this horrible atrocity is reversed.