Backstory: The birth of a peaceful protest against Shasta County Board Chair Kevin Crye
Recent protests in front of District 1 Supervisor Kevin Crye’s Ninja Coalition business really came out of a sense of frustration. People kept asking us, “What can we even do?” They’ve watched public comment get cut short, seen community members and public servants mocked or denied appointments, even to volunteer boards.
And then came the appointment of Clint Curtis. He’s not from here, has no experience running elections, and his claims about hacking voting systems have been widely debunked. Still, the board picked him over someone with 17 years of local experience. The ROV decision was the breaking point for a lot of people, myself included, that came like the straw that broke the camel’s back following a series of Crye’s poor decisions that seemed to ignore what was best for Shasta County and our people.
But this goes beyond just one decision. County employees are still working without a contract. They haven’t had a wage increase, and it’s not looking likely because the board votes on that, and Crye has made his stances pretty clear. These are the people who keep the county running, and they’re being overlooked. And with the way Crye has blurred the line between his public role and private business, it’s hard to understand why the rest of us are expected to play by the rules if leadership won’t.
At the end of the day, this is a grassroots movement. It’s not coming from one group or one voice, or one agenda. Rather, it’s coming from regular people who are tired of being silenced. We’re not doing this in anyone’s name, but our own. We’re not here to cause chaos. We’re here because we’ve been ignored and talked over for too long. This is us finally saying, “You’re going to hear us now!”
I am posting here, in its entirety, Supervisor Kevin Crye’s Monday Morning video. This
video is effectively political propaganda. I am sharing it so that those who have been
unconstitutionally blocked from a sitting supervisor’s public communications about
official government business can still access and evaluate it for themselves.
No elected official has the authority to restrict access to government messaging based
on political disagreement. This is an abuse of public trust and a violation of First
Amendment rights.
Center: Shasta County District 1 Supervisor Kevin Crye joins District 5 Supervisor Chris Kelstrom and an unidentified man to watch peaceful protesters outside Crye’s Ninja Coalition business on Hilltop Drive in Redding.
Public discourse should never be limited to only those who applaud.
What follows is my response to the claims made in that video.
Kevin Crye called the protest outside his business grotesque. His exact words were:
“It’s grotesque. I’ve had people that I employ who are grown adults who couldn’t believe
what they saw.”
He then claimed:
“People are playing really explicit lyrics and blaring air horns towards kids under the age
of eight, that’s just really grotesque and that’s what’s happening.”
And later stated:
“It’s not about my business, but it’s about what’s happening around kids, young kids.”
Let’s be clear. What is grotesque is not the protest. It is grotesque to use children as a
political shield.
It is grotesque to suggest that a peaceful protest aimed at public accountability is somehow an act of harm against kids. And it is grotesque to claim your business is off limits when you have built your political image around it.
The Ninja Coalition is not separate from Kevin Crye’s public persona. It is a business he
regularly promotes while serving as an elected official. If a politician uses a private
business as part of their campaign platform and identity, then it becomes part of the
public conversation.
Protesting a public figure’s decisions, especially when those decisions have hurt people,
is a protected right. It is not only legal, but it is necessary when all other avenues of
accountability have been exhausted. Many in this community have lost jobs, seen their
careers disrupted, and been silenced. They are now exercising the one tool they still
have: peaceful public protest.
Crye now says people are entitled to their free speech. But that statement came only
after he called the police and attempted to disrupt the demonstration. This is just yet another example of Crye’s hypocritical contradiction between what he says and what he does.
Children should not be hidden from civic action. They should be allowed to see it. When
a community stands up for itself, when it asks hard questions, when it peacefully protests injustice, that is not dangerous. That is democracy in action. It is not harmful. It is healing.
And now Clint Curtis has been brought into this picture. A man whose political
affiliations shift depending upon what suits him. His record is one of opportunism, not
conviction. He is not here to protect the integrity of elections. He is here to reinvent
himself, using Shasta County as his backdrop.
ROV vote: Straw that broke the camel’s back following many destructive board decisions
Update: It’s come to our attention that Joanna Francescut posted a public statement at 3:46 p.m. today on social media stating that she is not comfortable with constituents protesting in her name.
Of course, we peaceful protesters understand her statement, and respect her need to create some distance between her campaign for ROV, and citizens’ protest against Kevin Crye.
The good news is that our peaceful protests are not just about Joanna being passed over again for the ROV position. Yes, there have been chants such as “No Joanna, No Peace”, but it’s important to remember that this is a grass roots movement. The ROV issue aside, many community members who’ve shown up to protest outside Crye’s business do so to speak out about their own specific complaints about Crye’s bullying leadership style and multiple destructive decisions that have brought harm to our county.
The fact is that this local movement of citizens publicly voicing deep dissatisfaction with Crye is so much bigger than the ROV position. We are primarily focused on not just election integrity, but local control, the treatment of our county employees, and fair treatment of constituents by our Chair Kevin Crye. That’s our message. The board’s decision to reject Joanna may have been the catalyst for many of the protesters, but this is about so much more. The appointment of Clint Curtis is just the latest in a long line of missteps and poor choices made by this board, and spearheaded by Chair Kevin Crye. We will continue to be here, every day exercising our first amendment rights.
We are not going away. We are not intimidated. And we are not going to stop holding
public officials accountable.
This is not harassment. It is democracy.
