Introduction

Brian Rothery

This is probably the most dramatic, if not the most important, story I have been associated with in a long lifetime, and it is also the subject of the most important or worthy book that I could publish or assist in publishing. I believe that I do not have to make a special case, or argue this too strongly, as the facts should speak for themselves. Suffice it to say that the importance of the story, indeed its magnitude, is matched by the extent to which it challenges a dominant narrative of our times.

The story is immense, on a Wagnerian scale, but to accept it, one must question the current moral and social ideology that has given rise to it. The only realistic alternative is to ignore the story as most such stories are ignored by the media and publishers today. To accept and to even read it is to question the dominant narrative which has caused it.

Here it is in summary. A 61 year old American, Kelly Piercy, having failed in a long and courageous battle on behalf of himself and others to challenge the US registration conditions for convicted sex-offenders has finally given up that fight on American soil and is preparing his boat to sail away from an American port across the Atlantic Ocean. He is almost totally blind, with movement only visible at the peripheries of his vision. He will remain within US law by declaring his status as an 'offender' at any port where he lands. I will deal here now for once and for all with the matter of his blindness and his imprisonment for possession of child pornography images. As his temporary literary agent, I have little if any interest in the technicalities or legality of his blindness or whatever degree of blindness he suffered at the time of his arrest, because blindness is not a defence against possession of illegal imagery - indeed there is no defence against this crimen exceptum as there is no defence against any crime laid down by a dominant narrative, not even as Kelly has discovered the US Constitution itself. The issues here in this story are the cruel and unusual punishment, forbidden by the Convention on Human Rights, which the US refuses to ratify, and the dominant narrative of victims and abusers, not what he might have seen or not seen or not whether it was or was not obscene.

Banished from America is a temporary title, assigned by me for an emerging book, being written by Kelly, perhaps not to be completed until he finds a port of comparative safety. It is offered here to any publisher with the courage to publish it ahead of the start of the voyage which will begin in Spring 2012. If a publisher cannot be found, it will be published online. Publishers or program-makers can contact me below.

What follows was written by him at the point where he made his decision to prepare for his journey into the unknown.

Start of Kelly's text.

Consider what Mark Lunsford (a US child protection activist) said off camera when I appeared opposite him on the Huckabee Show: "The Constitution is what the people say it is." Every person in that room, save myself, agreed with him. What that means is we are no longer a nation of laws: we are a nation that governs by whim. There is, in this case, no hope. In the 1960s America took to the streets and demanded the government end the draft and the war. What the people demanded was that they be given their rights without obligation. That is where it began and we have continued on that path. I took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States even to the point of death. There is no Constitution. The will of the people has ended it.

Many of you reading this may be devout Christians, whatever that means. I suggest you read your bible before you rely on prayer. To paraphrase, Jesus admonished his disciples, telling them to give the people bread before offering salvation. No one will offer us bread and those among us who depend on Christian faith miss this most important point: see to the needs of the body before the needs of the soul. Pray all you want, but do it while standing in the street and demanding this idiocy end. We will never win this fight as long as all too many of us will not stand out in public and demand this end. All too many of us will not even use our own names or continue to work behind a veil because being known might cause some inconvenience. I have stood and died for this cause. No one will give me bread. I have chosen the Constitution as my flag: it does not exist, except where it is convenient to the whim of the people. Sun Tzu tells us that to win we must choose our ground on which to fight. In a few days time, I will again report to the local sheriff and again be fingerprinted and photographed. That new photograph will once more be published. The local blogger in (name removed here) County will continue to notify the people of my existence and location, as will many services across the country. I have dedicated my time and money to this fight and it has been answered by defeat after defeat, some from those with which and for whom I fought.

Now, I look to Sun Tzu. I choose my ground. I will finish the projects here and prepare my boat. I am going to sail to a new port, and, staying in compliance with the will, whim, of America, I will report my registry status. If I am denied permission to land, I will re-provision and set a course for the next anchorage.

I will be without a nation to call home, and I will be free.

Preamble

Government by whim - or Truth, justice, and the American way

As a youth, barely a man by the artificial line established by law, I took an oath. I took it in the meaning of that word in a time when words had meaning. I enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and upon enlistment I took an oath that committed me to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America, even unto the point of death.

Today, I am faced with a nation that pays bare lip service to that Constitution in the interest of 'public safety'.

Public Safety - - - Aye, there is the rub. I almost want to quote the entire soliloquy because the parallels in Hamlet's dilemma so match what is faced by those who have fallen and try to get up that it seems the Bard must be one of the true authors of living words.

Promise:

Speak truth to authority - I promise to speak only truth. In today's America, that word has only a relative definition to its actual definition. That word seems to come in colors. The truth I speak will be that truth based in facts and those facts will be referenced in either footnote or appendices.

To begin, my name is Kelly Ray Piercy. I am 62 years old. I was born in Augusta, Georgia. I grew up in LA and Fair Oaks, California. I enlisted in the United States Marine Corps, served in Viet Nam, and was Honorably Discharged for medical reasons after serving four and a half years on a planned career of 20 to 30 years (the Marine Corps is the only family I have ever had and you will understand that in the chapter of my past.)

In 1999, in the United States District Court, Eastern District of California, I was convicted of the possession of sexually explicit images depicting minors. To this conviction were added the enhancements (See United States Sentencing Guidelines to understand this term) of production and trafficking. The base sentence was 23 months, but with enhancements the sentence was 87 months. I served 2,304 days of this sentence, the lesser time due to 'good time credit' of 15%. Post release, I completed three years of supervised release. Now, I will complete the whim of society by a lifetime of registration.

Yes, I am angry. I am angry because the Constitution for which I swore to die, and indeed, in part died, and moreover saw friends and other human beings, both friend and foe, die to answer the questions 'wiser' men could not, is moot.

Nevertheless, I promise that this will not be a polemic. Indeed, if we understand Locke, a society has the right, in fact the duty, to decide its social contract.

Donne tells us that everyman is each of us and if we have a concern for ourselves, then we must have that same concern for every other person. This will be my story. Nevertheless, I promise to not make it about me. I promise to make this story about everyman.

Given those promises, I now ask the reader to make a promise to their self. I ask the reader to not read this to find places to attack. I ask the reader to consider my words with an open mind and to use what I write to seek solutions. You can blame me, you can find me disgusting, you can hate me if that is the sway of your emotion. I ask you to use this writing to find reason and justice, to understand that this effort is to seek solutions, not forgiveness. If I am able to do this correctly, the result will be to open a discussion based in fact, reason, and justice rather than on the path of hyperbole, non sequitur, and hysteria on which we now find ourselves embarked.

Progress of the book

News about the progress of both the book and Kelly's journey will be published here. Agents or publishers or others of relevance can contact the editor below.

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