Another Unfortunate Ending to an Unfortunate Situation
The Pensacola News Journal reports that April Watson has resigned from her position with the Town of Jay, ending a seven-year career with the town that once had her on track to become its next town manager.
It’s an unfortunate ending to an unfortunate situation. Whatever your thoughts about April’s past, there’s no denying that this is another story to add to the growing pile of people who work hard, contribute to their communities, and try to move forward with their lives, only to find the registry in the way of their future.
People should be accountable for their actions. But what does rehabilitation actually mean if someone can never move beyond their past? At what point do we allow a person’s present conduct and contributions to count for something?
It was nice of the Pensacola News Journal to mention Florida Action Committee in its coverage. We appreciate the opportunity to bring attention to the human consequences of a system that can make moving forward extraordinarily difficult.
April’s story is a reminder that it’s one thing to tell people to rebuild their lives; it’s another to let them do it. And April, if you read this, we welcome you to join FAC and become active! We can use your skills and you are certainly welcome here.
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Sometimes I feel like we are all on the list for the firing squad. My biggest disappointment is the Supreme court. I am not going to bash them but why can’t they give us some relief? Why do they not see the retro-active implacations of registration after the fact and even later if people have done their time over decades.
And even though we can petition to be removed, it is not a sure thing, and you have to spend a lot of money to your lawyer. Why can’t the supremen court make a plan for it to be automatic after a certain period? But I guess that is the lawmakers who create these dilimmas for us and they are not too keen on that matter.
I do not know how many people have been granted relief in Florida but it is not a lot. And to that point, 50 different states seem to have 50 different rules about registries and when you can be removed, and some release very few if any at all.
Did this post she was an excellent employee
https://floridaactioncommittee.org/april-watson-jay-resignation-years-of-service/
Well…I am not trying to be on political side, but, we have a president who has a felony and, according to the judge, not my words, but the judge, for rape. And that man, is doing well, and very rich. And again, I am not being political, just stating the facts. The country moved from that and he is the president.
Why then, we, normal people, who wants to move forward, do well in society, rehabilitate ourselves and learned from our mistake, CAN’T find the way to move on and move forward because the society ostracize and marginalize us ? Why can we have a normal family, a norma life, and live in peace and tranquility? Why ??? I guess the society pick and choose who they wants to forgive and forget, the rich and powerful, and for everyone else, we are the low hanging fruit from which people in our society finds an outlet to vent their anger and rage and have us as their personal “pinata”. They hang us by the neck and beat us to pulp, and we have no way to defend ourselves from these onslaught, nor we see a relief on our perpetual suffering.
I hope that the FAC lawsuit changes most of these injustices and mistreatment. After all, we are human beings, we are sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers, and even the worse offender may have someone who love him or her just because he is or she is a person who, at one point, was a decent person. I hope that there will be a change.
Um, 34 felonies, not just a felony. Would anyone else who has that many (or even 1/8th of them) be taken seriously if they didn’t have the money to start? 1/34th of them is usually enough to disqual anyone from most of the world regardless of what it was for or how long ago it was.
The sad part is that the Constitution doesn’t bar somebody from running for the president of the United States if they have felonies. If that’s the case then anybody who works for the government should have the opportunity, even if they have felonies or a past. As long as they’ve shown they are productive member of society.
Precisely, it was the unjust priviledges that the nobility and royal classes had by that time one of the main causes that led to the French Revolution by the ends of the XVIII Century. Today there is no more nobility ruling (except in very few countries and their power is very limited) but it had been replaced by the new “nobility” of the very rich. Hopefully history won’t repeat itself (won’t it?).
April is a prime example of why many of us that are doing fair to midland keep quiet and stay in the shadows- we fear that our success will breed anger, fear, and hate so great that it will teat down any progress we have made. No matter how well we try to follow these rules, there always seems to be a ‘gotcha’ that can be found if you look hard enough.
That’s exactly what they WANT – for anyone us to slip back into the shadows and stay there. Why? Just to pacify and appease public sentiment? It’s not our place or job to make others feel “safe” or “comfortable” in our proximity. “Liability issues” is another made up excuse! Why? Just because of the label? This is worse than the AIDS scare in the early 80s.
Bottom line: society just doesn’t want to risk humanizing anyone with this label. The ignorance, fear and hate is just too widespread, normalized and impossible to quell.