Weekly Update 2022-10-03 Ref#231 – Ocala News dehumanizes people on the sex offender registry

Dear Members and Advocates,

Our first order of business is a post Hurricane Ian check in. We know that many of our members live along the west coast of Florida and our thoughts and prayers are with all of you who are still suffering the after-effects of the storm. If you are in one of the effected areas, please try to reach out to others in the community who you might not ordinarily stay in close contact with and make sure they are OK. Whenever I find myself spared by disaster or in a position to help others, I always try to do what I would want others to do if it were my mom who needed the help. Now is the time to show kindness and compassion to others because you never know when you will need that kindness in return.

This past week I found myself really upset by something I read on Ocala-news.com that wasn’t kind at all. In their reporting on the Marion County hurricane evacuation procedures, they listed emergency procedures for registrants under the “pet shelter” section. They had three sections to choose from, “special needs shelter”, “general population shelters” and “Pet-friendly shelter”. They chose to include us with the animals. It wasn’t just that… the animals actually got a shelter at Vanguard High School in Ocala, registrants didn’t. Our instructions were to go to the Sheriff’s Office!

I might be more sensitive than most because I’m a child of refugees and a member of another minority group, but those hurricane procedures really triggered me. I instantly related it to signs in the early part of the last century that said, “Juden Verboden” in Eastern Europe. I don’t even live in Marion County and I’d sooner tie myself to a tree for the duration of the hurricane than check into a police station or jail for one minute, but just reading that article made me feel a certain way. That way was sick to my stomach. Dehumanized. Like my life and my family’s life is valued lower on the hierarchy of worthy of surviving a natural disaster than an animal. It’s a feeling that no human being should be made to feel, but a feeling that I have become used to and that I try not to let define my self-worth.

This chronic social rejection that registrants are exposed to can be excruciating. Everyone in life experiences rejection, but for the most part, people have had relationships end or been fired from jobs and moved past it. While the initial hurt can be painful, eventually you get over it. You find something else. You move on. However with the registry, it’s inescapable. The kind of rejection felt by people on the registry is something completely different than getting fired or having a relationship end. It’s over, and over, and over, and over. It conditions you to believe that you are sub-human, that you have no value in life and that no matter how hard you try, no matter how many years of therapy you subject yourself to, no matter how many good deeds you do in the wake of your one single bad deed, you will never, ever be worthy of being classified in the same category as an animal, let alone a human being.

An outsider might not see it this way. They might think, “oh, what’s the big deal, hurricanes don’t come around that often” or “they probably didn’t intend to put that section there, they were just trying to find a place for the information”. But they don’t have the same perspective. It’s almost like a variation of the ‘driving while black’ phenomenon. Maybe you were playing your music too loud that time, and then perhaps the officer really couldn’t see your registration sticker that clearly, and sure, it’s possible that they are just doing routine checks. But when the experiences become so routine that you begin to accept the mistreatment as a natural part of your existence, you begin to think differently. If this society, even in a time of natural disaster, can’t consider your life as valuable as an animal, maybe that is your market value in life?

It’s not. As a volunteer for FAC, I’m in a position to respond to calls and emails from our members. The profound rejection that I feel is not just me. Others are experiencing the same. And not just a few others, thousands of others. What makes me feel scared is for the people who don’t have this community. There are those who read the articles or get turned away from emergency shelters and think they are alone. They don’t realize there are 80,000 people in Florida and approximately a million nationwide. They read this trash in the Ocala news and are left to stew on it, taking it personally. But we can’t.

Guys, this needs to stop. We are not animals. We are human beings. If we allow anyone, be it a politician, news outlet or even a neighbor to continue disparaging and oppressing us, we are normalizing this behavior and contributing to the problem. I think that part of the problem with our ability to respond to it is that the social rejection has been so persistent and so long term that our self-worth has been reduced to nothing. Years, and in some cases decades of being subjected to this has done this. It’s going to take time and a lot of effort to bring us back, but it starts today!

Several months ago, when a homeless registrant died, I asked you to reply to the weekly update and lets us know you care. A token gesture to symbolize the worth of this man’s life. Many of you replied back letting us know you care. Today I ask you do the same. I want you to reply back to this weekly update to let us know you read it and that you care. Only this time, I’m not asking you to care about someone you don’t know. The person I’m asking you to care about is you!

Whether you are a registrant or a friend or family member who is suffering alongside a registrant, I want you to look at yourself in the mirror and know that your life has value. Know that you are not worthless. Know that you are not alone and that there is someone out there that cares about you and is fighting for you. I care about you. I know the rest of our FAC board of directors feels the same way. As debilitating as this registry has been, I need you to summon the strength and courage to do something about it. Whether you take it upon yourself or you become more involved in FAC or your own state’s advocacy group (or if your state does not have one, start your own), do not wait another day!

There will be an FAC sub-committee on “Emergency Evacuation and Shelters” tasked to ensure all people are treated as human beings and given the opportunity to seek appropriate shelter with their family, friends, loved ones, and pets of their own. Please reply to this email or post a comment on the Weekly Update here and let us know you care and find out how you can do more to support this sub-committee team.

It’s time to end the social rejection. It’s time to end the registry.

Sincerely

The Florida Action Committee (FAC)