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The Sorry State of Human Rights in Humboldt
Last week I chased down 2nd District Supervisor,
Estelle Fennell to find out why she removed Chris
Weston from the Humboldt County Human Rights
Commission. Having been to a few HRC
meetings, it was clear to me that Chris Weston
actually cares about human rights. Most of the
HRC commissioners seemed surprisingly
indierent to me. I mean, we have lots of rights
fanatics around here, at least when it comes to
property rights, the 2nd Amendment, and privacy
protection, but the Humboldt County Human
Rights Commission has got to be the most tepid
organization designed for the purpose of
promoting human rights, ever, in the whole history
of the civil rights movement. I doubt that butter
would melt in half of the commissioners mouths.
Estelle told me, emphatically, that HRC
Commissioners serve at the pleasure of the
Board of Supervisors,
so you can bet that we have a weak Human
Rights Commission, because thats what the
Board of Supervisors wants. Chris Weston came
to the special meeting of the HRC in Garberville,
to hear about human rights abuses in Southern
Humboldt, from the people who suer them.
Estelle Fennell couldnt be bothered. Chris Weston
wanted human rights issues agendized and acted
upon by the HRC. Estelle, apparently, didnt.
Therefore, Chris Weston had to be removed.
Just look at Estelle Fennells atrocious record on
human rights: She worked to pass two new laws
to criminalize poverty, one prohibiting people from
asking for help, and the other prohibiting sleep,
laws which fly in the face of the most basic of
human rights. She supported Measure Z, which
shifts the burden of taxation away from
land-owners, who reap most of the benefits of
county government, and onto the working poor
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and homeless, who can aord it the least, and to
whom the county oers little more than evictions
and jail time. Most recently, her decision to hire a
poorly qualified new Public Defender with a weak
record, a decision which demoralized the Countys
well-respected Public Defenders oce, will only
make it less likely that the County will respect the
rights of indigent defendants. Considering her
record, putting a commissioner on the HRC who
actually cares about human rights would be out of
character, so we shouldnt be surprised that
Estelle Fennell rescinded Chris Westons
appointment.
I asked Estelle Fennell, directly, why she removed
Chris Weston from the Humboldt County Human
Rights Commission. She didnt want to tell me.
She told me that Chris knew why she removed
him, and that I should ask him, so I did. I invited
Chris Weston to appear as a guest on my radio
show, the Memorial Day (May 29) edition of
KMUDs Monday Morning Magazine. On my show,
Chris told us that the reason Estelle gave Chris for
why she removed him, was that he created
friction within the HRC.
Friction! Weve got teenage kids
beating homeless old men with
baseball bats in Southern Humboldt,
and shes worried about friction
within the HRC. A man was set on fire in
Garberville, but shes worried about friction on
the HRC. As Chris Weston said on the air, Human
rights dont get defended without some friction Humboldt County while honest working people
and if it werent for some friction blacks would
still be slaves, and women would still be the
property of men.
I think it will take some friction to address our
continuing problem with violence against the poor
and homeless in Southern Humboldt. We have a
serious human rights problem in Southern
Humboldt, and ignoring it wont make it go away.
If Ron Machado were gay, the incident where he
was set on fire would be national news, and the
perpetrators would face federal Hate Crime
charges, but because he was poor, white and
heterosexual, in Humboldt County, hes just good
kindling. Thats a cultural problem and its a
cultural problem caused, not by poor and
homeless people, but by the people with six-figure
incomes around here, like Estelle Fennell.
We call it a community here in Southern
Humboldt, but what goes on here is more like a
casino. As long as you have money, we dont care
who you are, or where you got it; youre welcome
to stay and play. If you dont have money, on the
other hand, youd better scram, even if you were
born and raised here, even if you have a job and
work here, even if you think you are part of the
community here. To the rich people around here,
like Estelle Fennell, youre not a contributing
member of the community, youre just a loser, and
you are taking up valuable real estate, so move
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on. Thats how a casino operates, but you cant
build a community that way.
We dont make community a priority, here in
Humboldt County, we make money our sole
priority, and ignore the social, cultural and human
consequences of that decision. Our current Board
of Supervisors has created an atmosphere
conducive to gamblers that lures shady business
people and outright criminals into our community
to loot us of our quality of life, ruin the
environment, and exploit us economically, while it
sweeps the social problems their policies create
for our community under the rug, or out the door.
They ignore the housing crisis. They ignore the
addiction problem. They ignore the dead bodies.
They ignore the violence against the poor and
homeless. They ignore the sex tracking, and
they ignore the people in our community who are
suering. All they see is money. Everything else,
they just brush o, throw away, or pretend it
doesnt exist. Of course, they can get away with
that now, because theres so much money around,
but when this casino stops paying, the high-rollers
will be gone, along with the money. All that will be
left is the wreckage, and the losers. That is, the
environment and the community.
Its happening already. The smart money is getting
out while the getting is good, leaving the suckers
to lose their shirts on the downhill slide.
Meanwhile, large scale organized crime has
become entrenched in the area, institutionalizing
hard drugs, sex tracking and other crimes in
live in their cars or sleep under bridges because
drug dealers have taken over most of the available
space. Thats whats happening to our community,
and to our home, here in Humboldt County,
thanks to our current Board of Supervisors.
The housing crisis here is literally
killing people in Humboldt County, and
Housing First wont begin to address it.
Our whole economy is based on dealing drugs,
but we have almost no treatment for addiction,
and we die from drug use at ten times the state
average here in Humboldt County. The housing
crisis forces people into the drug economy, and
the drug economy drives addiction. Addiction
leads to poverty, crime, hopelessness, and death.
This is no accident. This is being done to us
intentionally. This is how greedy parasites suck the
life out of a community, and our current Board of
Supervisors invited them here to do it. Now that
Estelle Fennell has eliminated the friction at the
HRC, I guess it will just be smooth sailin from
here.
John Hardin
lygsbtd.wordpress.com
So Hum
LAW
CENTER
Richard Jay Moller
(707) 923-9199
jaym@humboldt.net
P. O . B o x 1 6 6 9
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