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
I have been on the registry for 9 years (3of the on fed probation) all the while without any incident. I went on a cruise 4 months ago to Mexico and the Mexican Rivera I gave them the authorities 3 weeks notice and had no trouble whatsoever in going coming back or visiting the countries.
I am currently on a second Cruise to the Caribbean and this time I did not have the three weeks required requested time period to let them know about this cruise I only gave them one week notice. I was allowed into Belize. I was turned away from Cozumel and turned away from Honduras told I could not enter. In fact in Cozumel the authorities came on to the ship and requested to see my passport and told me I couldn’t come in whereas nor as they just said you can’t disembark they called me and discreetly did it on my private cabin phone.
Now I come back and not sure if I’m going to be facing any kind of penalties fines or something worse because I didn’t give them advanced warning, when I was unable to, also sailing into Florida is not going to help any matters because they are supposedly the strictest state.