Sept 9: Looks like Ron Book found a way to “clear the tracks,” with Miami police support:

http://www.wtxl.com/news/miami-shelters-homeless-against-their-will-as-irma-closes-in/article_9d05477c-9575-11e7-9085-6f9256faeb4a.html

Here here Karen. Well said. I see your point beautifully. That’s the problem though. Time. I’ll be in my 80s before anything is done, all the while living a miserable, poverished life because of these ridiculous laws. But I see your point. We have two different sharp sides to the same weapon fighting for us, and that can’t be a bad thing at all.

They are still at the encampment

That’s the thing (Tired of being mistreated), you can’t get all of the registrants across this nation to come together as a whole and peacefully demonstrate against this punishment, because the law enforcement will threaten you with more punishment. So Sad! It’s like they took all the men in prison for sex offenses and cut their (castrated) them because nobody has them anymore. I know women (no disrespect intended) who have more balls(there, I said it) than former SO’s do. If we could only get these guys to grow a pair or stop standing on them, we could get something done.

MJ – Yes protests DID being down monuments all over the country but let’s not forget it was not without pain and bloodshed. Also, there is a HUGE difference. Enough support by the general public existed for the protestors to accomplish what they did. The same is NOT true for RSO protests nor the advocates for abolishment of the registry.

In the late 1880s segregation began in the South. Although it was based solely on the color of one’s skin remember that using the white facilities by a black was a crime. In 1886 SCOTUS upheld that separate but equal WAS Constitutional (Plessy vs. Ferguson). It was not until 1954 that things began to change (Brown vs. The Board of Education) and took all the way to 1964 (The Civil Rights Act) to completely abolish racial segregation.

So what is the point to this history lesson? To point out several things…it is true that the blacks committed no original crime (unlike RSOs) but they are similar in outcome because RSOs have paid their debt to society but are still treated as criminals and not allowed to move forward. In fact, our country continues to punish ALL felons long after their debt is paid (there really is no such thing as paying one’s debt to society in the USA). Another point is this – if blacks had tried to protest the Jim Crow segregation laws in the early 1900’s not only would they have lost but they would have been hurt or even killed – it just was not the “right” time. That does not change the injustice of the laws it is just reality. Which brings me to my main point – in the late 50’s and mid 1960s our society had changed enough that there was a younger generation that was realizing the insane inhumanity of racial segregation. So, enough public support (like the Confederate monument removal, or legalizing cannabis) existed to begin to make a change. The RSOs do not have that (not even close). The key right now is education and unfortunately time. Time for what? Time for enough young people (and others) to grow up knowing someone on the registry or loving someone on the registry. For advocates to emerge that are not on the registry (too few right now). And time for people to learn the truth about so many things they have been lied to about concerning sex offenders and sex crimes.

If Rosa Parks had refused to give up her seat on the bus 20 years before she did what do you think would have happened? She would have been jailed, released, maybe hurt, and nothing else. However, the timing was just right and when she refused it became national news – people from all over the USA stood up and said these laws are wrong! Not only did her own city rally behind her but so did the country. When MLK Jr. started his campaign if Malcolm X had become the face of that fight I guarantee it would not have had the support it received and needed. And remember, it was not smooth sailing – many lives were lost. Malcolm X’s form of angry protest has a place and serves a purpose but it did not belong as the face of the MLK movement. So, Derek’s type of protest (angry peace?) has a place to be sure and his hubris and bravery are to be commended. However, do you really want that to be the representative face of FAC? The public is not ready for that and the support in society is not there. FAC as often as they can SUPPORT the efforts of any registry protestors – but not to ENDORSE. They cannot risk the public opinion that would ensue by associating with something they (the public) feel uncomfortable about and see in the light painted by the Book’s (or the majority of them).

Great thing about this is that both FAC and Derek have your back – they have the back of all RSOs – whether you support them or not and that is the beauty of both.

Did you folks not see that they actually posted against Book’s efforts to silence Derek? FAC has always said they believe that the face of FAC (for the time being) should maintain a professional projection. That being said did you not see them post on the other thread that they support fully Derek’s right to free speech and applaud his efforts in the fight (not an exact quote)?

That’s excellent. Thanks so much for the link. I did not realize all that was being done.