Years ago, there was a website called Examiner.com, a site for freelance writers to try to earn money by writing news reports. They no longer exist, but at the time I tried to write for them. I wrote this article about them years ago on NARSOL's "Tales From the Registry" project but since the NARSOL "Marketing Director" is censoring my work, I'm posting this article here before this is removed from the website. This is an important story that must be shared.
“They are absolutely allowed their voice, but they are not allowed to use our platform for that voice.”
By Derek W. Logue of OnceFallen.com
February 29, 2016
If you are a registered citizen and you have ever conducted a job search, chances are you have at least one job search horror story. My first job interview after my stint in prison was with OfficeTeam, a “temp-to-hire” company. I had lots of clerical experience, had easily passed their aptitude tests, and was invited to come in to fill out the final paperwork to be added to the jolly crew of office mercenaries. Just as I was about to sign the papers, a woman I had never seen before barged into the room, screaming at me that she told me that they don’t hire people like me. I was never told that, and had been honest on my application, so no one had mentioned it before that moment. She threatened to call the police on me and had me escorted out of the building before I was even able to recover from the shock of this woman’s venomous rant against me. I had expected to experience a lot of disappointment and frustration at trying to find a job with this virtual mark of infamy, but it did not make experiencing the discrimination firsthand any easier to absorb.
If you are a registered citizen, you also realize that your right to express your frustration through social media is also limited; not only do states attempt to limit (if not outright ban) registered citizens from social media like Facebook, social media sites like Facebook also bans registered citizens from their services. The story I wish to tell you today is a melding of these two obstacles (jobs and social media) because it concerns my brief life as a contributor to an online news service.
There are a number of online “independent media” platforms, such as AlterNet or the Huffington Post. Many of these websites allow “citizen journalists” to write for the platform; regular folks like you and I can write for them, and the more people who read what you write, the more you get paid. (Granted, you have to have tens of thousands of readers to make a decent amount of money, but making a few extra bucks to do what you are already doing is not a bad gig.) In February, 2012, I filled out an application with Examiner (Examiner.com), which included a sample of my writing, and within a week, I was approved to write for the Examiner. After living off of public assistance (SSI and SNAP) since April 2006, I was hoping to use my experience writing for Examiner.com to establish myself as a decent researcher and writer.
Even today, Examiner.com does not mention the exclusion of registered citizens (much less anyone with a criminal record) from the qualifications, according to their about us page. (see http://www.examiner.com/About_Examiner) They only ask you to be “credible, passionate, & knowledgeable,” be accurate, contribute regularly, be able to offer a “local” point of view, and be open to feedback. That’s it. The fine print reads, “Examiners must be 18 years of age or older and U.S. or Canadian residents. Each Examiner is required to sign an independent contractor agreement prior to activation.” Not even the contract asks about a criminal record. If it did, I would not have bothered signing up to write for them.
Over the course of six weeks, I published four articles for Examiner.com, until my account was abruptly suspended. Curious, I contacted Examiner.com on March 24, 2012. My email read, “I am wondering why my account was deleted without warning or notification. I have done nothing wrong and all my articles have references.”
Three days later, I received a reply from “Kevin Staunton,” who was listed as the Director of Northeast & Mid-Atlantic Regions Kevin replied, “Derek, Hoping this is temporary, but we’re performing a background check to ensure you’re in compliance with our terms of use. We should have the results shortly and we’ll reach out with next steps at that time. In the meantime, access to your account has been suspended.”
Having never seen anything about background checks in any of the Examiner terms of service, I asked, “What do you mean by ‘background check?’ Do you prohibit certain people from writing for you or something?”
Kevin replied, “Hey Derek, That’s correct; there are certain offenses that would preclude a person from contributing to the site. We have a third party company that performs these background checks on our behalf, and they’re essentially looking at felony crimes and specific offender registries. They do not contact previous/current employers, nor do they perform credit checks. Hope to have this completed shortly.”
“Specific offender registries” was an obvious euphemism for the sex offender registry. Some states do have other registries of people convicted of other types of crimes, but if you mention “THE registry,” pretty much everyone knows you are discussing the public sex offender registry. So I asked Kevin, “So having a felony record or being on the public sex offender registry bans qualified people from contributing? That sounds like discrimination. Are they not allowed a voice? What is the harm in it?”
Kevin’s final reply—“They are absolutely allowed their voice, but they are not allowed to use our platform for that voice.”
The next day, I was sent an email with a PDF attachment that read, “As part of the Examiner.com Examiner screening process, you have been randomly selected to complete a background check. Attached, please find the appropriate disclosure and authorization forms. Although it is your choice whether or not to complete these forms, please know that should you fail to complete the forms (or fail to pass the background check), your Examiner status review will be deemed incomplete, and you will no longer be eligible to participate as an Examiner for Examiner.com. If you do wish to remain an Examiner, you must complete the disclosure and authorization forms in their entirety, and return them to me within 7 days… Please take this request seriously… if you fail to return the forms within 7 days, we reserve the right to suspend or terminate your Examiner account immediately, without notice.”
I have a hard time believing I was “randomly selected” for a background check. Not coincidentally, this “random” suspension came just days after I had written an article about Ron Book and the ongoing homeless registrant issue in Miami. (You can find this article, “The sequel no one wanted: Bookville II, return of the Miami sex offender camp”, at http://once-fallen.blogspot.com/2012/04/sequel-no-one-wanted-bookville-ii.html, republished from Examiner.) It is possible that a representative from the Book family targeted me for this story. It may even have been possible the work of one of the various “online vigilante” groups targeting registered citizens on the internet. After all, one recent comment directed at me was, “In the unlikely event that you ever achieve anything remotely resembling any kind of significance, you can be sure that a relatively small number of phone calls and emails will be more than enough to completely ruin you and any delusional hopes you might have had of changing the current hell of your miserable existence [smiley face]. Ironically, individuals complaining about me collecting government assistance are also eager to state that if I try to get a job to benefit myself, “a relatively small number of phone calls and emails” will ruin that for me, so ultimately, why bother looking for a job?
No matter who decided to complain about me to Examiner, the bottom line is I’m no longer writing for Examiner.
It never ceases to amaze me how ignorant people can be about the difficulties registered citizens face in seeking gainful employment. Even among others within the anti-registry movement, I have been given advice from people who seem to be ignorant of the difficulties of finding a job as a registered citizen. Registered citizens tend to be more highly educated than other people convicted of criminal offenses, yet many of us languish in stressful, low-paying dead-end jobs with little to no upward mobility, assuming jobs even exist.
My experience with Examiner was only one of many job difficulties I have faced since my release in 2003. I have been approached by some good paying jobs over the years, only to be denied because of my status alone. After years of rejection, I have reached a point of having no desire to find traditional employment. I have suffered my own share of anxiety and depression over the years. These days, “jobs” and “work” are four-letter words to me, both literally and figuratively.
The preliminary results from the job and welfare survey I have recently conducted confirm many of the difficulties we all face while carrying this mark of infamy. Some of us carrying this label have found a way to succeed and make decent wages, but not all of us are enterprising or entrepreneurial. Not all of us are good at creating and maintaining businesses with a profit motive. I just so happen to be one of the many people lacking the proficiency to create a successful business. I am grateful that I receive SSI and SNAP (food stamps), because these are the only two programs keeping me from experiencing another bout of homelessness. I will likely remain on these programs until the day I die, unless the general public changes their overall attitude about employing people forced to register as a “sex offender.”
Showing posts with label discrimination. Show all posts
Showing posts with label discrimination. Show all posts
Saturday, October 5, 2019
Monday, January 8, 2018
Who would Jesus leave out in the cold? Calling out ministries turning away registered humans
Much of the USA has been stuck in the freezing cold for the past couple of weeks. There's still snow on the ground from Christmas at my home in Cincinnati. We are finally going to climb above freezing for the first time in two and a half weeks, so relief is in sight. During these cold weeks, a number of stories came out with smiling shelter directors proudly proclaiming they have shelters open to ANYONE* who needs it. Of course, the asterisk was for those on the registry.
NARSOL members had contacted a number of shelters in the news stories, and while all cited the shelters accepting children and being too close to schools as reasons for turning away registrants, not one shelter gave specifics on alternative housing for registrants. Read their efforts by clicking the link below:
https://narsol.org/2018/01/shelter-discrimination-blurs-separation-of-church-state/
I had a computer crash this week but was able to contact two ministries, one from Alabama (Christ-N-Us) and one from tennessee (MATS, Inc.). Below was their responses.
Christ-N-Us, a ministry from Mobile AL, responded through a FB post after deleting numerous comments from anti-registry activists.
https://www.facebook.com/ChristNUs2/posts/747152562136506
"We do not make the law, but we do have to abide by it. We will give them a hot meal, a hot shower, warm clothes, coats and blankets. We will also find the somewhere they can go. There are numerous other shelters available. They simply cannot reside in our facility, we are a family shelter, a great deal of our clients and children are under safety plans through DHR and the court system. Jesus would not kick them out into the cold and neither do we. We do the very best we can do within the limits of the law we must abide by. Perhaps if more people would get involved something could be done to rectify the situation and open a facility that will allow these individuals more help and resources. God Bless you and Happy New Year!"
In the comments section, Donald Anthony Floyes Jr, who runs a ministry called Joy Unspeakable Ministries, praised the shelter for not taking in registrants, adding, "Don’t apologize for turning away potential threats/predictors. Pastors have to watch over the flock!"
It took a week to get even a vague answer from MATS, Inc. of TN Director Gary Brewster. He didn't understand what I meant by "registered citizens" (even after putting an explanation of the term in parentheses) and it took nearly a week and a couple of emails to receive a response, and didn't exactly help by passing along any useful information.
We have two other shelters they can go to that are merely blocks away. One for males and one for females. Also, we have a shelter down the road that we can drive them to. In addition to this information, we only had one person who fits your description who did not want to go to any of the shelters in the area and we were able to find a home for him.
Thank you for your compassion and hard work for your fellow man. Please discontinue correspondence with MATS. We will continue to be diligent and faithful to do our job here and I'm sure you will do yours there. But I see no reason for further correspondence.
Dr. Gary Brewster
MATS
"Mats" <directorofmats@gmail.com>
These ministries turning away registered humans are not truly standing up for Christ as far as I am concerned. Christ would not turn a registered person away any more than he turned away murderers, prostitutes, tax collectors, and other ruffians when he walked this earth. But it seems some of these ministries need to be reminded the Scripture that the mission of helping others in need is of the utmost importance to Christ.
James 1: 22-27 - English Standard Version (ESV)
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. 26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. 27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
NARSOL members had contacted a number of shelters in the news stories, and while all cited the shelters accepting children and being too close to schools as reasons for turning away registrants, not one shelter gave specifics on alternative housing for registrants. Read their efforts by clicking the link below:
https://narsol.org/2018/01/shelter-discrimination-blurs-separation-of-church-state/
I had a computer crash this week but was able to contact two ministries, one from Alabama (Christ-N-Us) and one from tennessee (MATS, Inc.). Below was their responses.
Christ-N-Us, a ministry from Mobile AL, responded through a FB post after deleting numerous comments from anti-registry activists.
https://www.facebook.com/ChristNUs2/posts/747152562136506
"We do not make the law, but we do have to abide by it. We will give them a hot meal, a hot shower, warm clothes, coats and blankets. We will also find the somewhere they can go. There are numerous other shelters available. They simply cannot reside in our facility, we are a family shelter, a great deal of our clients and children are under safety plans through DHR and the court system. Jesus would not kick them out into the cold and neither do we. We do the very best we can do within the limits of the law we must abide by. Perhaps if more people would get involved something could be done to rectify the situation and open a facility that will allow these individuals more help and resources. God Bless you and Happy New Year!"
In the comments section, Donald Anthony Floyes Jr, who runs a ministry called Joy Unspeakable Ministries, praised the shelter for not taking in registrants, adding, "Don’t apologize for turning away potential threats/predictors. Pastors have to watch over the flock!"
It took a week to get even a vague answer from MATS, Inc. of TN Director Gary Brewster. He didn't understand what I meant by "registered citizens" (even after putting an explanation of the term in parentheses) and it took nearly a week and a couple of emails to receive a response, and didn't exactly help by passing along any useful information.
We have two other shelters they can go to that are merely blocks away. One for males and one for females. Also, we have a shelter down the road that we can drive them to. In addition to this information, we only had one person who fits your description who did not want to go to any of the shelters in the area and we were able to find a home for him.
Thank you for your compassion and hard work for your fellow man. Please discontinue correspondence with MATS. We will continue to be diligent and faithful to do our job here and I'm sure you will do yours there. But I see no reason for further correspondence.
Dr. Gary Brewster
MATS
"Mats" <directorofmats@gmail.com>
These ministries turning away registered humans are not truly standing up for Christ as far as I am concerned. Christ would not turn a registered person away any more than he turned away murderers, prostitutes, tax collectors, and other ruffians when he walked this earth. But it seems some of these ministries need to be reminded the Scripture that the mission of helping others in need is of the utmost importance to Christ.
James 1: 22-27 - English Standard Version (ESV)
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. 26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. 27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
Matthew 7:21-23
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
Matthew 25: 41-46
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Finally, those of you who do not want to listen to my words yet claim to follow Christ, I leave you with what I am doing to your "ministry." I hope others do the same.
Matthew 10:14-15
14 And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. 15 Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.
Thankfully, there HAVE been programs willing to stand up for their right to minister to those in need.
Triumph Church in Clanton AL sued under religious freedom laws with help from the ACLU (yes, the same ACLU many Christians deride as the the "Anti-Christian Liberties Union") to run a halfway house for registered persons. The ministry reopened after a long legal battle in the spring of 2017.
CrossRoads Shelter in RI (a secular program) is also getting help from the ACLU in stopping the state from enforcing a new law limiting the number of beds for registrants to 10% of available bed space.
I don't want to hear any more excuses from churches. It is not Christian to turn away the "least of these." Get behind me, Satan!
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