chicp

chicp

Ol Will



"All the world’s a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages." -Shakespeare

Friday, October 1, 2010

Here is to Questionable Behavior:

Barry said:

"A good thing I don't work for anybody otherwise my employer would have received tons of letters from people like Ridor, ASLEveryday, ASLitself and others.

I remember being accused of contacting Barbara Digi and David Eberwein's employers, which never happened. I waited patiently until a shred of evidence showed up about a year and half later. Barbara Digi and David Eberwein were able to secure copies of the letters and showed them to Ella. Ella acknowledged this in one of her video commment and stated that she personally saw copies of the letters and acknowledged that they did not contain my signature. Needless to say that I kept her video comment into my hard drive for future reference.

The boiling question is why did Ella, Barbara Digi, David Eberwein and many of their supporters allow the accusation against me to fly around for a long time knowing that the letters were not from me. I've yet to see the letters myself and am still waiting.

Ella, Barb Digi, David Eberwein and many others know the answer to the question but yet they have refused to leak this information, I suspect because it came from within their own circle of friends. Otherwise they would have spilled the beans long time ago.

Shameful."

Mike said:

"I've had many correspondences with people who explained how efforts were made to find dirt on them, commit false rumors, pry into their private lives, inappropriate contact with their friends and relatives, and even the contact of employers and bring forth false information as a way to somehow "get back" at people they don't like simply because of an opinion or viewpoint over certain deaf-related issues."

Karen said:

"Still, people making threats or calling people's employers out of personal vendattas... is upsetting and a sure way to create fear and distrust."

"Barry, you don't need to send me the copy... I believe you. At least, you are stating here on my blog that you had nothing to do with it and that Ella acknowledged it. That's good enuff."

Candy said:

"Oh yeah, people who do things like that, contacting anyone's workplaces, need to be EXPOSED big time! Very much in agreement with that."

And then Ben Vess said:

"After reading these comments and seeing that my name has appeared in terms of trying to refute some disputed facts between who said what.

First thing first, I do not have an opinion or statements regarding my feelings about such subject. It is too subjective for me and others to even have a productive dialogue. However, I will discuss facts.

Fact #1: Barry Sewell sought me out when he saw my blog calling Ella a coward and wanted to discuss ways to counter the opposition against "us" at the time.

Fact #2: During the whole DBC fiasco, there was DBC and then there was us.

Fact #3: Barry Sewell sent me three documents to be signed (very explicit instructions on how this should be executed. The documents were intended to be sent to the workplaces of these three people: barb, David, and Ella. All of the documents questioned their capacity to do their jobs correctly.

Fact #4: I was the one who passed the letters on to the people being accused. Yes, me.

Fact #5: Barry sent those emails to me and I still have them. They are free to anyone who wishes to obtain a copy.

I hope having these facts come into light will clarify some of your misunderstandings about what happened with these letters and how the three accused people got them."

Oh My!
Look what we found!


" From: "Sewell"
Date: July 14, 2008 10:10:55 PDT
To: "Benjamin Vess"
Subject: Next Step?

Hi Ben,
Appreciated your latest vlog. It's about time somebody stood up to Ella and call her a cowards because that is what she is. Can't have it both ways.. to lead a movement but hide in midst of questions and discussions.

Regardless, I'm thinking about putting together a group of concerned citizens and submit letters to CSD Fremont, CA Board of Education, Rochester School for the Deaf, NY State Dept of Ed, CAD and NAD to submit a copy of AIM meeting in which their employees and board members participated with radical comments against CI, Oralists and how Ella hijacked DBC and CAD to promote her financial interests in Deafhood Foundation.
Do you know of anybody that is willing to serve as the contact person for these letters? We need somebody that is outside of former DBC members. I drafted rought drafts for everything but just need to find a willing candidate to serve as contact person for "concerned citizens".

My thinking is since we can't seem to hold these people accountable we might as well make them accountable to the State and CAD / NAD. This way, they will have to issue public apology or face disciplinary actions. Once they do that then it will break them up and destroy the spell they are under.

Your thoughts?

Barry"

So now the question is:

Whodunit?
You tell me.

Questionable Behavior...
Que interesante!

Lastly, Barry, this isn't to destroy you,..it is to help you come clean. Of course, that will be left for you to decide what to do. We're not the enemies, we're the people who want the water of the rivers to flow as they should.

Truth.

As for comments and all,..expect them to be moderated this afternoon as I will be busy much of the day.

Peace!

36 comments:

  1. Man, talk about issues, this guy. I recall BS denied this very well. BS is a master of contradictions and double-standards. Pathetic crabbing tactic isn't it? Just cuz you disagree with something doesn't mean you have to go to that cowardly level to avenge real people's lives.

    Indeed, let the river of truth flows to where it leads to the ocean of knowledge. Just don't pollute it for others. I appreciate those who brings this into the clean once for all.

    ReplyDelete
  2. A smoking gun! Hypocrisy exposed! AND..... notice Barry himself didn't want to get his hands "dirty".... he wanted someone else to do his dirty work for him!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Smoking gun, indeed. The letters that Sewell was referring to are letters to employers and state or national agencies to discredit the three Deaf activists.

    It is commendable that the activists did not want to publicize the letters or what they knew of their signers, preferring to let the matter drop. Their employers, as far as I know, did not act upon the letters as they were obviously mean-spirited and troublemaking.

    But it was bound to come to public attention, however. Serious attempts against peoples' reputations and livelihoods aren't easy to forget.

    Sewell has stated that he and Ben agreed to drop the idea. However, some letters apparently reached their targets.

    Coming clean about one's role would mean admitting one authored the letters and began the process of disseminating the letters, and maybe a later change of heart will be more believable.

    ReplyDelete
  4. "Ooooo, I'm scared." I wrote that.

    -smirk-

    ReplyDelete
  5. The truth will always come out sooner or later. It's easier to tell the truth than to lie because you have to work to remember what lies you told. Sooner or later you'd slip up. That is what happened here.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ben has a good soul and wanted to do the right thing by coming forward to me two years ago. He no longer wanted to continue with this letter writing campaign as initiated by Barry. Bless him!

    Now this new but old evidence had shown proof tha...t Barry was the one who organized and drafted the letter trying to get the others to send to our workplace/state ed as a malice act to have us to lose our jobs just because we spoke our opinions against oralism (not against spoken languages but against this philosophy that bans signed languages). All along, Barry had been lying through his fingers that he had not drafted the letter but this document had proved him that he actually did initiate the draft.

    We need to be aware of what Barry Sewell is capable of that he is instilling fear, distrust and division in our precious Deaf community by leading a witch hunt to accuse the activists.
    about lies, deception and manipulation by Barry Sewell.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi everyone, I do not know who owned this blog.

    First of all, Barry stated: "A good thing I don't work for anybody otherwise my employer would have received tons of letters from people like Ridor, ASLEveryday, ASLitself and others."

    We all know Barry do not have three coporations which he did confirmed himself and told some of us. We all already knew he faked three corporations which there are no locations on this and he does not have any employers who worked for him.

    Also he stated: "The boiling question is why did Ella, Barbara Digi, David Eberwein and many of their supporters allow the accusation against me to fly around for a long time knowing that the letters were not from me. I've yet to see the letters myself and am still waiting."

    I have not hear about letters and I have no idea where did he get his illusion mind! Sounds like he accused them for fraud information???

    Well, all I said before some of Barry's friends can still share his secrets to destroy any person or organizations. Good thing, Barry cannot find few of his friends who are still share with us the informations. Poor Barry, let him leak his own informations with his friends so he will get his karma right back to pluck his chicken tail! Let him agrue his own words which he spread it around and all we do is sit down & watch him just like "Yosemite Sam."

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'm staying out of this because there is a lot of OTHER people involved that are not coming forward...

    All the more reason why I should get out while I can because I don't approve of any of that shit and had no idea until Ben dropped the bomb.

    But, AB 2072 was my passion and I am all about parents having choice in deciding what they think is the best interest of THEIR child. For me, it was never personal.

    That is all I will say on this.

    And, It's interesting how I see some of the other names of people acting like they don't know anything.

    Like I said, all the more reason why I need to get out.

    It was nice getting to know some people. It's supposed to be exchange of ideas and respecting different opinions and discussing things. Not getting personal. Should never have gone that far.

    Ciao

    and

    Adios

    ReplyDelete
  9. Candy,

    Yes, there were other people involved who actually e- mailed the letters to the workplaces.

    Nevertheless, we need to acknowledge that Barry was the one who drafted the letter and sent out to these people in his e-mail group that Ben got involved that Ben later got himself out of it.

    The point of this blog is that Barry had been denying all along that he framed Ella, DE and me accusing him that the letters came from him which it actually did so that's all to it.

    Have a nice life.

    Barb

    ReplyDelete
  10. And one more thing, we are not here to pick on Barry but giving him a chance to come clean. We are nicer than that.

    ReplyDelete
  11. What happened to the ADDENDUM?

    That was important evidence of Barry's influence on the others that actually sent out his proposed letters!

    Please add the ADDENDUM back to your blog, so that those people who still trust Barry Sewell will know what this predator is capable of doing to people just for having different ideas.

    Thank you for letting the truth come out into the open.

    ReplyDelete
  12. heye anony - u can always ask barry for them - u know in the spirit of transparency. he definitely has admitted to having the letters

    candy - in this blog entry it says:
    Candy said:

    "Oh yeah, people who do things like that, contacting anyone's workplaces, need to be EXPOSED big time! Very much in agreement with that."

    But in this comment thread u said u are staying out of this.

    I think this is the position many folks have taken in the past. It doesnt get us very far - just allows more bad stuff to get worse, goes FARTHER, and LONGER, and HARDER.

    Stand up and i will stand with thee.

    Jeffrey - how do i love thee let me count the ways.

    ya done real good here. Thank u

    Ben ya don good too

    peace

    patti

    ReplyDelete
  13. Ah, Candy is right to stay out of this. 

    There are far too many people involved, to be frank. I do not feel that Barry Sewell should be severely punished more than others. I went to several people for advice on how to handle this and all but one told me NOT to pass the letters to Barb, DE, and Ella. They should be held responsible too. 

    Then there are those who actually sent the letters. 

    Barry may have been wrong in drafting them. I was wrong in agreeing to signing them before I realized the seriousness of it. It is even more wrong to have sent them after knowing that even having the letters in itself was wrong. 

    It is true that Candy, AnnC, Paotie, and few others did not know about any of this until I came out in Karen's blog. It is really best to not drag them in this mess because they know just as much as most readers here. 

    I take full responsibility for my part in this. 

    I think it would be fair if you guys also seek out those who knew and turned a blind eye to it for the last two years. They are just as guilty for not having done anything to stop it. Also, those who actually took the time to send the letters out. For they are the ones who crossed a line that should never be crossed. 

    I just hope everyone can take responsibility for their actions and inaction and make it all possible for us to move on and form a stronger community. 

    -Ben

    ReplyDelete
  14. "I think it would be fair if you guys also seek out those who knew and turned a blind eye to it for the last two years."

    Give them a time limit to come clean or face public exposure. Given that they've already had two years, I think that two more weeks should be long enough to wait for the justice of having their dirty acts exposed to the larger community.

    If they come clean before the end of the two week period, they will have a chance to explain why they chose not to protect the people they KNEW this was happening to.

    If they do not choose to come clean, then they will get what they deserve in terms of the community's scorn as the evidence of their complicity is presented publicly.

    In his "Next Step" email, Barry admits that he himself wrote those three draft letters to the employers and was actively seeking "a willing candidate to serve as contact person" so we already know that Barry is one of those responsible, despite his statements to the contrary.

    Barry can either come clean, or keep spinning. It no longer matters for Barry, because his complicity is no longer in doubt.

    So what does the community intend to do to ensure that this does not happen again?

    Pretend that all is ok, and Barry and those he conspired with can continue doing more things like this to people they disagree with?

    If so, who's next to have their life destroyed by this monster? You?

    ReplyDelete
  15. This blog has been in DeafRead Extra all day.

    They've chosen not to put it on the main DeafRead page. Why not?

    http://www.deafread.com/extra//page/1/t/
    http://www.deafread.com/go/77937

    ReplyDelete
  16. Until the cached page gets refreshed, the "ADDENDUM" can still be viewed at:

    http://cc.bingj.com/cache.aspx?q=%22Here+is+to+Questionable+Behavior%22&d=67909201953261&mkt=en-US&setlang=en-US&w=f7c40930,8996bc2

    - Linda

    ReplyDelete
  17. This kind of post would not be allowed. You need to be creative. You can't attach the whole email like that. This need to be in Deaf Read, I agree.

    ReplyDelete
  18. heye

    ben thanks for ur comment

    just for clarification - no one is implying that the folks u named (candy, paotie, ann_c..) were involved in the letter Barry drafted and got folks to send to the workplaces / affiliations to attack individuals and destroy an organization


    The truths be told. Barry drafted the letter and sought out folks to distribute it with the intent to hurt the individuals and destroy DBC.

    Ben i do thank you for:
    1. saying no to Barry 2 years ago and passing on the letter to the targeted party
    2. removing ur blog entry entitled Ella is a Coward
    3. bringing forth this proof of the truth / facts

    Candy - i know u abhor hypocrisy and i falsehoods. I know u have made several public statements saying u would do shout outs if u learned of folks unjustly attacking people they disagree with via their workplace / affiliations.

    I know u expected some of us to b/vlog and shout about these kinds of things in the past. I am wondering when u will live by ur words.

    The email to ben by barry demonstrates that:
    1. barry drafted the letter which in karen's thread he repeatedly DENIED. he said the letters arrived at his desk from others

    2. Barry said he was upset by the fact that no one clarified that he was behind the drafting of the letter and asked for proof that he did draft the letter - BINGO - we have the PROOF before us.

    his old grudge is unjust and unjustifiable

    3. the letters to employers / board of ed / and organization was riddled with falsehoods and misrepresentation

    (yes there were a few unkind jokes re: CIs but what the aim chat shows was that BARRY said nothing. BARRY did nothing. In fact he even laughed at times. it is more damaging of him than the others because of what he as done and denied doing ever since. What's more these three targeted individuals still held their jobs, teaching license and affiliations after the attack. Why, because while the intent and purpose of the attacks were vicious and unjust, the employers and affiliations saw that and discarded it. In a word - Barry failed! oh and the other main goal of his actions - dis banning DBC failed.

    The only thing he has been successful at is - harming DR / DVTV and from all his spinning - looks like the only one who got dizzy was him and his anti-Deafhood, anti-AFA, anti-DBC, anti-Ella camp.

    No worries - we be barefooted and firmly grounded.

    boots stand at the ready and a word of love to the folks sitting on some bad $hit

    come clean soon - u will feel better and lighter


    peace and love

    patti

    ReplyDelete
  19. Ben Vess was honorable in coming clean and disclaiming further support of this shameful letter and the person(s) behind it.

    I've been watching this to see if Sewell will do the same and say that he admits it was a mistake and that he is sorry it happened. I'm still hoping because it would show a change in the increasingly fractious climate of Deaf cyberspace.
    Hope springs eternal...

    ReplyDelete
  20. hello Jeff and everybody,

    Finally, I got time and stomach to read this blog and Karen Mayes' blog preceding this. I also managed to read practically all comments under both blogs.

    I am a bit hopeful seeing where this is going and that at least SOME truth is coming out and SOME healing may be happening.

    Like I did with Mishka Zena's blog that appeared after the fantastic DBC conference and rally in Milwaukee in 2008, I counted the comments made by people in Karen Mayes' blog (comments there is now closed) and here's what I found, for what it's worth:

    theholism made 41 comments
    Karen Mayes made 22 comments
    patti durr made 11 comments
    White Ghost and Barb Digi made 9 comments each
    DianaRez made 7 and DerSankt (Ben Vess) made 4

    Let's compare the numbers to those made under Mishka Zena's blog written very soon after the DBC conference ended in July 2008. Can't remember name of blog. Hmmm....see any patterns?


    total of 335 comments as of 1 a.m. on July 5, 2008.

    total of 66 unique commenters

    14 commenters out of 66 made between 7-43 comments each.

    52 commenters out of 66 made between 1 - 6 comments each.

    The leading commenters are:

    1) the blues = 43
    2) Dr Hocokan = 30 (Ella's note: you may recall Dr Hocokan was Barry Sewell's pseudo name during DBC conference...and you know he had countless psudo names since then...currently theholism)

    3 & 4) Karen Mayes and Mishka Zena are tied @ 24 each
    5) dogfood = 16
    6) Candy = 14
    7) ASLisRisen = 12
    8) Penny = 11
    9) ChrisH = 10
    10, 11 & 12) K.L, Ann_C and John Egbert tied @ 9 each
    13) anna s = 8
    14) Erik = 7

    ReplyDelete
  21. I apologize, Ella, but I must have missed the point of your comment. If I recall correctly, you and your people called me many names. You, single handedly, wrote a letter trying to harm an very good organization because I was involved with them. You, with malicious intents, have encouraged similar type of behavior from others as Barry did.

    You never apologized.

    Now you're going to keep diving the community by hanging people up to dry because they can't do what you asked but cannot do it yourself, either?

    This blog is about coming clean. So, why don't you?

    -Ben

    ReplyDelete
  22. What "very good organization"?

    ReplyDelete
  23. Ben,

    First of all, I thank you for your recent attempt to get some of the truth out. You have gained my respect.

    Now, I admit I am surprised to see how apparently angry you are with me still, and for what exactly?

    Yes, I remember your posting "Ella, You Are a Coward!" and it was removed before I reviewed it, and I think JJ Puorro quit being editor because of it.

    I remember that it popped up during the horrible and unjustified mudslinging against DBC the summer of 2008 that came from people who did NOT attend the DBC conference.

    I also remember that the DBC core group was so exhausted from the successful conference, had gone on to catch up with our lives, and was totally unprepared for such onslaught. I am truly proud of how we stuck together, believing in our integrity and work with DBC. I feel so blessed from that experience.

    I remember we had a good talk on the VP once. I don't remember if it happened before or after that "Coward" posting.

    I do not remember if I called you names wrongfully. I do remember calling you a cyberbully in that open letter to Deaf Hope because you were part of that mudslinging.

    The open letter to Deaf Hope was not directly about you but more about my perception of their true intentions based on my 2002 experience. I am sorry you were sort of "caught in the middle."

    Julie Rems-Smario and I are slowly and quietly healing from our own struggle way back in 2002 which left many of us with many scars. I am willing to publicly reflect on that time but I believe the community here and Julie would much rather I not, and that we all together keep on moving forward.

    JRS has been doing some amazing things especially during the Oppose AB 2072 campaign that I must admit have helped tremendously in "melting" some of my huge reservations against her work with the Deaf community from what happened in 2002.

    Nowadays, I do reflect in private on that time from time to time especially with the gaining wisdom and understanding I am getting from my Deafhood studies that began in 2005.

    I am also learning about being on a truth campaign like what Patti Durr is doing. I've always attempted to do so all my career in ASL and Deaf Culture/Deafhood, but I've made mistakes with overdoing it or not being sensitive enough. However, I believe that I have NEVER done it with any malicious intentions.

    I don't mind analyzing what happened that summer of 2008 and its effects on the Deaf blogosphere, but ONLY IF the others are part of it for the betterment of the community, for the advancement of Deafhood, and in order for the community to move on as long it is NOT PERSONAL. I know it is sometimes hard to separate the personal from the public in the Deaf World but there are cultural ways to discuss those things appropriately.

    If you, Ben Vess, wish to talk to me more about certain situations privately, I will be happy to do that. You have shown that you do want to see things straightened out.

    I admit with your recent actions, I feel hope. I am willing to take this gamble for the sake of helping the community learn from this and moving towards an audism-free, linguicism-free world for our Deaf children.

    Again, thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Ella, maybe it would help to separate the personal from the mission. Deafhood, audism-free, linguicism-free promotion is a mission, but you're working on a personal relationship with Ben.

    With missions, there are going to be people who don't agree on them, but people will agree to human interaction. We've seen opposing sides on the battlefield help each other when the war is out of the situation.

    ReplyDelete
  25. DianRez, thanks for your wise comment. Mmm. It may be good to discuss that further. I'm thinking about missions that are about "the others" vs missions that aims to make profound change in one's own culture / community. Is it harder to do the latter cuz it requires a lot of soul searching and impacts possibly most of one's self perception and language compared to missions for "others"?

    Nevertheless, u made an important point that one's personal issues or experience should not be perceived as the same as how that person's mission for life is about. Not easy for a community that's still slowly waking up about audism, dysconscious audism, from many negative effects of Oralism and all it's step-children such as AVT, SEE, SimCom, addiction to devices created to exploit us for money out of false benevolence or selfish reasons. Also, a community that has deep networks which have been very benefical for protecting community from fragmentation but the networks have also been abused by mean-spirited or angry members which we have seen on the blogosphere too. When that happens, it's every member's duty to mobilize and debate and with good will put a stop to it for the sake of community's health.

    ReplyDelete
  26. DianRez, Ben and I met only once before DBC and our "relationship" was never personal. Many if not most of the people i have discussions here on blogosphere or in DBC or about ASL or Deafhood are not personal. It's like with Barry. I have NEVER met Barry in person and talked with him on VP or AIM only a few times and all "mission" related. Sure, we do insert some personal stuff from time to time as our culture expects us to but we very rarely become too personal.

    But because of our quite tight networks, rumors happens, which is undersrandabl. Criticism happens, which is understandable BUT there ARE Deaf cultural rules and values and common sense on how to handle it in the public. Yes with blogosphere, some of the rules had to be revisited and modified due to the new challenges. I'd much rather we prioritize respect for Deaf identity, language, and values while processing than exploiting the "hearing" blogosphere behaviors to perpetuate abuse and audism and linguiicsm.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Mikeszz says, "I recall BS denied this very well. BS is a master of contradictions and double-standards."

    I suggest we stop beating around the bush, and call him what he is: A LIAR

    No matter how he decides to excuse himself or twist the facts, he LIED!

    ReplyDelete
  28. Ella,

    Thank you for your prompt reply and clarification on your first comment, that is truly appreciated. I, also, thank you for your attempt in making things right for the future of the community. 

    I'd like to clarify a couple of things. Dianrez and you both are correct. You are correct in saying that we only met once and do not have a personal relationship outside the blogosphere. Dianrez is right about you making this personal two years ago with me after I called you a coward. 

    You did apologize for dragging me in your open letter to DeafHope; but that still does not excuse you for calling me an abuser. That is a very personal an serious accusation. Press on this enough and I could go to jail. 

    An abuser is a serious crime, but a coward is a matter of pride. 

    I am not angry with you at all. Simply this, after your labeling me an abuser, I couldn't respect you. Even now, I still can't. I never accused you of a crime you never committed and expected the same in return; but, you crossed that line. 

    As for DeafHope, you and your people encouraged others to not attend and withdraw their support. Thus potentially harming the victims who desperately need the support services that DeafHope provides-- all that just because you had a beef Julie and used me as scapegoat?

    I cannot respect that either. In all honesty, I do believe the victims are owed an apology from you. 

    Since you dragged other names in without their consent, I feel I should do the same: David Eberwein said to someone that he was "better than them (Julie and myself)" rather than to come to a solution. The Holcombs kept pushing on your accusation of my being an abuser and withdrew from the tea party and I have never abused you nor anyone.  You wrote that letter AFTER I thought we resolved it between us and it made me realize you were not sincere in what you said to me. John Egbert also told me publicly that I needed professional help. 

    The only one who stood by me, tried to come to agree on our disagreements and now we have a very strong friendship in spite of the fact that we disagree alot was Barb. 

    And Barb is the only one I respect out of the whole 2008 fiasco. 

    Once again, I am not angry -- I just don't have respect for you after what you have done. Especially after my attempt in reaching out to you to protect your reputation and having thought we resolved it like adults. 

    Also, I thank you for your honesty and apology -- I will admit it is a step forward in the right direction; however, it does not gain my respect for you for the time being. 

    -Ben

    ReplyDelete
  29. Ben -
    I want to thank you for sharing your hurt from an old wound. Ella's open letter to the abuse agency (was open not drafted and secreted around town via the internet) and it shared her concerns about an agency inviting you to be MC after you had posted an attack blog. She was not attacking you or the agency but rather sharing her concerns. Her open letter contained no falsehood or threat that she would send unjust letters to agencies, boards, employers, the IRS etc.

    I do see that the open letter hurt you though and i am sorry for that.


    Ella -
    I want to thank you for addressing Ben's accusations and "coming clean."

    I have marveled at the collaboration of the Oppose AB2072 folks. true commUNITY bldg. I do look to u both for how to not move over but to truly move on for the betterment of our commUNITY.

    Thank you Ella and Julie for being a model of progress and collaboration.


    Ben - do thank u for bringing forth facts and truths.


    The truth on this table is:
    1. Barry said he DID NOT draft the letters that are filled with malicious intent (see his email in the blog that clarifies his intent)

    2. It is proven that Barry did draft these letters and solicit folks to send them to DBC leaders' employers / affiliations / and licensing board

    3. Barry remains silent on this fact

    His silence speaks volumes.

    I wish Barry no ill-will. We seek the truth and justice. To me justice is not retribution and further hurt. MLK said positive peace was not the absence of tension but the presence of justice. Justice dictates that truth be told, facts be made evident, false accusations, defamation, distortions, disinformation, discrediting, and attacks STOP...
    and INJUSTICE BE CHALLENGED

    Its so easy even each of us could do it.

    Peace and LOVE,

    Patti

    ReplyDelete
  30. Someone emailed DeafRead asking why this post was in Extra.

    Here's my reply:

    I consulted with the team as to the reason why this post was put in Extra. They were following the guidelines when they decided to place it in Extra.

    "On recorded documentation (paper and electronic), names and other identifying markers must be redacted, erased, crossed out to the point of unreadability."

    Since that blog post showed the names involved in a private email conversation, it was in violation of the guidelines.

    I'm not sure if you are aware of the original reason behind this guideline. We established this guideline a long time ago after Barry posted private AIM conversations that identified people involved. We felt that wasn't appropriate so we set up this guideline to extra similar posts in the future. Yes, we realize the current irony that this guideline is "protecting" Barry in a way but there you have it. John's post didn't contain the conversation details and indirectly pointed to the blog post so his post was approved.

    I hope that clears up why we made the decisions we did.

    ReplyDelete
  31. This is very appalling! This shows the true color of Barry Sewell and his sneaky and evil ways.

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  32. I replied to someone's e-mail this evening when shared concern about my comment in Barry's blog. I stated that I doubt very much others will come forward to disclose that they were ones who sent letters to employers...due to fear of retaliation, lawsuit and etc.

    David got promotion to Principal position and I believe he is doing extremely well...Ella got her Deafhood Foundation going (wonderful)...Barb still has her job and was invited to Mississippi School for the Deaf to give support on Bi Bi program and etc. Everyone seem to be doing well and doing positive things for our community so why have to dig old wounds about those letters? If letters had caused them nervous or mental breakdown...loss of employment...bad reputation then I would understand why they feel the need to pursue this case and get justice.

    I am not trying to justify what others did to them but it is a very long ago and all threes are doing superb and nothing has affected them from doing what they do today.

    I also mentioned if others come out clean and admit that Barry helped them with letters to employers then Barry has his share of responsibility. There is no hard evidence because Barry stated he backed out when Ben decided not to write letters to employers. We have no evidence if he shared draft letters to other people beside Ben. I applaud Ben for coming out clean as he is brave to do that but so far we only heard one side of the story...from Ben.

    Another thing if Barry wrote draft letters and had children wrote letters to employers then Barry would be considered full responsibility for those actions. But if Barry helped some Deaf/hearing adults with letters to employers...Barry and Deaf adults are both accountable for what they did to Ella and others...not just Barry alone.

    I agree that letters to employers are ugly, disgusting and deplorable thing to do. I have heard stories that people would report employers about people they know---trying to get them fired or causing them bad reputation. It is scary out there. I thought this only happened in Deaf community but no...it also happened in the hearing world.

    Like I said in Barry's blog...let us move on!

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  33. I, for one, cannot believe that anyone can believe anything that BS has written. I remember BS saying a lot of things that hurt us, the Deaf Community, from the beginning of the Unity For Gallaudet Protests.

    Please people; do not believe anything that BS says.

    Raphael J. St. Johns

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  34. Raphael, can you clarify something here?

    Where was Barry Sewell at the beginning of the UFG protests and what things did he say at that time? Enlighten us, please.

    Thanks,

    Ann_C

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  35. Haha, Ann_C, I know what you're getting at.....great question.

    Tousi

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