Michigan Penal Code
750.147b Ethnic intimidation.
Sec. 147b.
(1) A person is guilty of ethnic intimidation if that person maliciously, and with specific intent to intimidate or harass another person because of that person's race, color, religion, gender, or national origin, does any of the following:
(a) Causes physical contact with another person.
(b) Damages, destroys, or defaces any real or personal property of another person.
(c) Threatens, by word or act, to do an act described in subdivision (a) or (b), if there is reasonable cause to believe that an act described in subdivision (a) or (b) will occur.
(2) Ethnic intimidation is a felony punishable by imprisonment for not more than 2 years, or by a fine of not more than $5,000.00, or both.
(3) Regardless of the existence or outcome of any criminal prosecution, a person who suffers injury to his or her person or damage to his or her property as a result of ethnic intimidation may bring a civil cause of action against the person who commits the offense to secure an injunction, actual damages, including damages for emotional distress, or other appropriate relief. A plaintiff who prevails in a civil action brought pursuant to this section may recover both of the following:
(a) Damages in the amount of 3 times the actual damages described in this subsection or $2,000.00, whichever is greater.
(b) Reasonable attorney fees and costs.
(a) Causes physical contact with another person.
(b) Damages, destroys, or defaces any real or personal property of another person.
(c) Threatens, by word or act, to do an act described in subdivision (a) or (b)
(a) and (b) are clearly not speech right? Those are criminal actions and (c) is making threats, making a threat to commit a crime is not protected speech, right?
That is very much a hate crime law but still not a hate speech law. Do you have a ballot referendum process in MI?
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I don't know how that got passed to tell you the truth, we do have a ballot referendum process but I don't ever remember that coming up for a vote and I have almost a impeccable voting record. Here you can threaten people all you want it's not until you act upon those threats does it become a crime. I would imagine if one drove it into a harassment phase something could be done about it, or did it with racist intent.
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what you should do is craft a well written ballot question to repeal that law. Threats to commit a specific crime are never protected speech.
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Nah, my activist days are over. Last time I took a petition around the neighborhood they were all renters, nobody cared. Something on the magnitude you are talking would require a army of people that cared to help you out.
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I don't know about your state but here it is not that hard to get the ball rolling. You just need to write a good ballot measure and then submit it, then you would need to get signatures but by then you would have an army of people to help you because of all the press generated by submitting your ballot measure. Pot was made legal here essentially by one man, he got fed up and wrote a ballot measure by himself. Then of course people hear about it and groups are formed to promote it.
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I decided my days of activism are in retirement. Maybe if I still had my business and talking with people when they come in but even then though probably not. They have ways of quashing the opposition especially if that opposition is in a highly visible spot. I personally think that played somewhat of a role from the power structures that be or had been after a deeply divided run to oust a city commission a few years back. We won that round by a mere fifty three votes to oust him. Funny how twelve years earlier I started the trend in our city to go out and post vote today stickers on political signs to remind people to go vote that brought that same man into office. It's all good in itself when your working with the power structure in place, it's a whole different ballgame when your working against it. They start asking themselves questions like how is it that she can so easily gather a crowd, show up with protesters holding signs outside their meetings then gather inside and demand they work on a issue. They see the one common denominator and determine that person has to go. It runs a lot deeper then you think in the power structure, the city unions play a huge role, that includes the cops, if they have a commissioner voting on issues positively that's related to them they want to keep them, they don't care about what's happening with everyone else in the city just what benefits them. It's like their own personal army they can call up against you despite the issue at hand has nothing to do with the police, the police just know keeping them in place is at their advantage. I attribute what I talked to you about in another conversation as a reason it took so long to get that under control. When some on the police force recognize you as a problem for them (despite the issue at hand not being police related, it was how the commissioner vote on police matters) they are just as happy to get rid of you as the politicians. If you'd think stumbling upon a angry bee hive or
being overrun with cockroaches could be a nightmare...at least one could finally win those battles, there's no COPS BE GONE insecticide I know of.
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