I began this website intending to focus on one issue. The Civil Rights of a small group of individuals who study or interact with extraterrestrials. According to recently declassified government records, this group has been subject to harassment and interference of their right to pursue information about this phenomenon. I am finishing a book that is due out in October 2021 about government efforts to suppress information about the subject. However, with recent events highlighting the urgent need for reform of how law enforcement treats minorities, I have expanded the scope of this website to add my voice to those looking to solve longstanding problems of systematic discrimination against people of color. This website will focus on both problems, federal government secrecy about UFOs and systematic unequal treatment by law enforcement. Both arise out of fear of loss of control. Both demonstrate how our institutions fail to live up to our aspirations. While few people understand one as a problem, no reasonable person would deny that discrimination based in skin color is wrong. One affects a hidden few, while the other affects those who usually have no voice.
Why me? What qualifies me to address these issues? I am a white, retired government attorney who worked on civil rights issues, representing plaintiffs and government defendants. Most of my career was spent in private practice where, among other things, I represented governments and citizen groups on First Amendment issues. Working on both sides of the fence has given me perspective on common problems of those deprived rights because of the color of their skin. I also lecture before citizen groups and in the classroom on these issues. In the 1990s, I taught over 400 people in a local leadership training program started by the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) in California’s Central Valley. The goal of the program was to give people the skills and confidence to get involved in local government. Many of the graduates went on to elected and appointed positions in local government. Recently, I taught a class in the San Diego State University School of Public Affairs about government decisionmaking, including a section on appropriate responses to civil unrest. Finally, I have served as City Attorney in several communities large and small. Many struggled with the same issues that have played out recently in the news.
This is an introductory post is intended to explain my background and the skills I bring to both issues. With regard to institutional bias at the local level, I intend to discuss techniques to help people advocate for change in their local community. Attitudes and biases are deeply engrained in our local public safety institutions. Passing a few policies will not change the underlying causes of unequal treatment found in public safety. It will require a sustained effort by people who educate themselves about the challenges in each community. They will also need to present their grievances and proposed solutions in a way that will achieve the maximum result. In addition, I will discuss certain cues that will help you determine which officials are genuinely interested in change and which are merely buying time until interest subsides.
Not all necessary changes are law enforcement related, local governments often have impediments that are embedded in the system that result in the unequal distribution of public resources. For schools, sanitation, roads, parks or other government services, built-in discrimination can distribute government services in an unequal manner. Often times, the structure of government makes it hard to see the inequities baked into the system. Sometimes even new, progressive leadership is unable to see or fix these built-in inequities. One of the goals of this website is to give suggestions of strategic and tactical methods to achieve success in making your community a better place for all people, not just the favored.
The second and the original purpose for this website is to consider the documented government treatment of citizens who have interacted with entities that are literally from out of this world. At least since 1953, the United States government has carried out a policy of suppression of viewpoints of people who believe there is an extraterrestrial presence on this planet. Whether or not these people, myself included, are telling the truth or delusional does not matter. Personal viewpoints that do not threaten harm to others deserve First Amendment protection. Even controversial viewpoints are protected by the First Amendment. This website will document official policies, shown in recently declassified records, that were intended to stop public policy discussion of an extraterrestrial presence.
People who are subject to viewpoint discrimination for their views about extraterrestrial life have a common thread. Each has either discovered significant information on the subject or are highly credible witnesses to the unexplainable. Not just “lights in the sky” reports. The reports discussed on this website and in my book that will be released on August 15, 2020 are made by people who had no interest in the phenomenon prior to taking their Flying Saucer photograph or witnessing an “unexplainable” event. Some made their discoveries known out of what they felt was their duty to alert the government. Others became a local celebrity when a friend or relative alerted the media about their experience. A smaller group, including people with security clearances who wanted to study the phenomenon in their spare time, were subject to government interference. Allowing this small, but highly credible group to voice opinions would undercut the government’s public position that no potential threat to our airspace exists. The government’s goal has been to prevent any catalyst from sparking a serious debate that would undermine the 70 plus year policy of secrecy.
This book will also discuss examples of suppression efforts up to the present. Credible witnesses to extraordinary events have had property taken and are often subject to official ridicule that other “fringe” viewpoints do not suffer. Publicly available information has disappeared from government archives once it is discovered by researchers. For seventy years, UFO researchers and witnesses to extraordinary events have had their particular viewpoints suppressed, through a variety of actions, to keep their issue out of the public mainstream.
Looks great. I appreciate your work history in private practice and government. You have both insight into the working of government and knowledge of civil rights law. I’d say that gives you the right to pen commentary on the subject.