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? Taking a
solo stand does make a statement, but even Jesus had His 12 Apostles.
And even as the numbers grew, look how long the Roman Empire continued
before imploding.
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.
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