Perhaps they won't, but I think what he's doing is a good thing. In addition to
the book that I wrote about recently which mentions several brave whistle
blowers who've been punished for doing the right thing, I read an article in
The New Yorker today about a man who attempted to hold a company accountable
for millions of dollars of medicare fraud. He was also punished for his
efforts. Most people just "go along to get along". But that's partially why
we're in the situation we are right now. Think about all those ICE employees,
many of them, Mexican American, as well as the contractors, who are carrying
out this administration's orders. I heard a story on the Reveal podcast
recently, about a particular family, the small child being separated from his
mother. It was a 23 year old contractor who was sent to take the seven year old
away from his mother at 3 a.m. The contractor had a Hispanic name and spoke
Spanish to the child. Remember the Nurenberg Trials where the Nazis were found
guilty of atrocities because following orders was not an acceptable defense?
Well now, everyone follows orders, regardless of what they're ordered to do, in
order to advance their careers. No one wants to make waves. So the Senate, all
but 22 Democrats, voted in a law to punish people for boycotting Israel. Free
speech is out the window. You can boycott North Carolina over bathrooms, but
not Israel over apartheid. So yes, that man should be taking pictures. After
all, the government is taking pictures of everyone on city streets, and facial
recognition software is being developed. Fifty years ago, we were out in the
streets demonstrating against a war. Now our country is involved in God knows
how many wars and the life is being sucked from us, and this one man is trying
to make amends for what he did when he was a soldier.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Thursday, February 07, 2019 7:49 PM
To: blind-democracy <blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [blind-democracy] A grand stand for justice, or just a grand stand?
This February 5 article from the Grays Harbor Daily World reports that a man
representing himself as "Blind Justice" is taking a stand toward protecting our
First Amendment Rights.
While I would not deny him the right to express himself in the manner reported,
I wonder if his actions will accomplish his goal?
What do you think?
Carl Jarvis
***
For months, an Aberdeen man who says he’s motivated by First Amendment freedoms
has been testing local governments by showing up in their offices with no
apparent business to conduct, then filming people with his phone camera.
Typically, it has made people uneasy and sometimes police have been called.
Last week, a version of one of his tests resulted in him being escorted from an
Aberdeen City Council meeting.
Mike Nelson, who is sight impaired and sometimes refers to himself as “Blind
Justice,” has been a watchdog of local governments since at least last spring
when he protested Aberdeen’s ordinance to restrict sitting and lying down on
sidewalks. That protest went several months with Nelson sitting on sidewalks
around Aberdeen every day to make his point. Nelson films every council meeting
he attends, using his phone or a GoPro camera strapped to his chest like a body
camera.
Over the past couple months, Nelson has filmed and posted dozens of videos of
what he calls an “audit” — visiting public agencies all around Grays Harbor
County. He might enter the front office public space of a finance or police
department, for instance, to see if they allow him to stand there and film.
When asked by an employee if they can help him, he often says he’s “just
checking (the office) out,” or “no, we’re good.” Some of the videos are very
popular, with over 130,000 views on YouTube and most of the comments are in
support of him.
In an interview Friday, Nelson said his goal is to test if public officials
understand First Amendment rights, particularly his right to film them in a
public place and to peacefully assemble. He said he also checks whether places
are accessible to people with disabilities.
“It’s really just testing if the staff are familiar with the rights of the
people, and if they’ll respect the rights of the people,” said Nelson. “If
they’re unaware, it’s a chance to inform them and know people have a right to
assemble, a right to the press, you can’t ban cameras in a public place.
Nelson carries a white cane to help him navigate and wears dark glasses, but
some of his distractor's are skeptical of his sight loss.
The targets of the tests are often agitated by the filming.
In a video where he makes a long walk around the Port of Grays Harbor
facilities, an employee confronts him at an entry gate, and suggests Nelson
“can clearly see him” as he moves around.
Nelson told The Daily World he’s not totally blind, and can see some color and
light. He described it as most things looking like amorphous blobs, like a
blurred kaleidoscope.
Nelson said he served in the military for 11 years and suffered multiple brain
injuries from explosions and falls that resulted in his blindness. Nelson said
that after swearing an oath to protect the Constitution, his time in the
military made him question whether what he was doing helped uphold it.
“Those years in the military, I never really processed what that meant, or
looked at the Constitution to ask, ‘Am I upholding it? Are my actions here in
war protecting the rights of the people?’ I never really considered it until
the end,” said Nelson. “I had to come to grips with, ‘I’m not, what I’m doing
is in violation and making it more dangerous and less free for people.’ That’s
why I sympathize, because I did it, and did horrendous things after swearing an
oath. Likewise the people here who swore the oath are oblivious to the
Constitution.”
Nelson said he hopes what he does helps shift public officials’
perception to better respect the rights of the public.
“Hopefully, the average person walking into a government facility will have
less orders, less restraints on their freedom, and won’t be told to put their
cellphone down,” he said.
