Right To Public Defense For Defamation

Public defenders should be made a right to cases affecting civil rights. Defamation, for example. Everyone has the right to a good name, if it is indeed, a good name, and to not have lies published or spoken which affect their standing in society.

Defamation of character affects employment, social relations, and even medical care, family relations and protection of the family, as well as security from false criminal or civil charges. If lies are believed, which damage a reputation, it can have almost irreversible and permanent affects on an individual.

Because of people reading and believing the Willamette Week article about me, I've lost jobs and not been hired, I've lost friends who were afraid their association with me would be harmful to them or their careers, I've lost the ability to be taken seriously when reporting misconduct, crime, or other abuses which affect not only me but society, I've had it affect the potential for romantic relationships, I've had doctors read this stuff and assume I don't have real pain and that I have mental problems, I've lost the ability to hold anyone accountable who does something really wrong because they know they can just point to this article and have me discredited, I've been falsely charged with misdemeanors I didn't commit and had law enforcement think I really am this kind of person, and I've had others in the justice system and (for example) CPS, try to use the Willamette Week to justify their opinions of me and how I must not be a fit mother if I really did the things the Willamette Week alleges (and they allege a bunch of things I never said or did).

Once someone is defamed, if they can't fight it, it leaves them susceptible to very serious harms. One would be assumptions made by a community which lead to false arrest or the belief a person is "likely" to have done something or that it's "reasonable" given their alleged "reputation". The other affects social relations and family, as it's affected mine. I have even had the defamation of my character used against me IN ANOTHER COUNTRY, where they had a COPY OF THE WILLAMETTE WEEK article on the TOP of their portfolio about me and why I shouldn't be allowed to stay in the country.

The defamation of my character has affected me on an international level, and has left me with damages which have harmed not only me but my son, and which I never had the chance to prove wrong in court, and receive compensation for.

If this happened to me, when I spoke up against abuse within an organization and mafia within law enforcement, this is possible, and does happen to others who haven't a chance to speak up for themselves, or money to fight a legal battle.

This happens to immigrants and lower class all the time. One hispanic guy told me he had an article written about him, showing his photo and claiming he was a gang banger when he wasn't. He wasn't able to ask for retractions--well, he DID ask, but they refused and knew he couldn't fight it.

The worst part is that those who may have the most important things to say, or speak up about, if it's against those in power, will suffer and never secure any remedy.

Sibel Edmonds, working as a translator for the FBI, was defamed within the FBI, and called mentally unstable, after she brought attention to some problems. Sh was able to fight it because she and her husband had money.

Others, who may have inside information on any number of organizations, should not be forced to keep their mouths shut, out of fear that what happened to me will also happen to them. This is the point of what happened to me--not only to discredit and punish me, but to make me an example for others who might try to do the same. "Look what happened to her," they could say.

What must change, is not only the laws, but the protection of ACTUAL enforcement of the laws.

If the United States cannot give its citizens equal opportunity to protection and security of civil rights, they have no business involving themselves in international affairs concerning human rights. What the U.S. has been saying to other countries, is that they/we are superior and we use our wealth to push for what we want, knowing the income disparity of other countries. What is sad is that we allow and enable the exact same thing to happen with our own citizens, and that is a true sign of plutocracy.

Until and unless laws are enforced which actually protect the rights of all and which discourage bullying, and until laws are added and/or revised to improve the system, the strength of the people is at risk.

How many people involved in the Enron affair actually went to jail? Contrast that with how many people are in jail for petty offenses which didn't even harm another individual.