You Can’t Help Every Victim of the State, So Don’t Try

Instead, help just one — but do please help that one.

The number of pro-liberty people who have been arrested and imprisoned in recent years is staggering. Unfortunately, large-scale suffering can have a paralyzing effect on those who might otherwise try to lend a hand: with so many suffering behind bars or awaiting trial, what can I — one ordinary person — do that would matter?

First, let’s take a look at just a few who need your help, in this case some of the people who participated in the J6 protests. The website American Gulag has done an excellent job tracking these arrests and imprisonments.

Deborah and Salvador Sandoval

Deborah Sandoval was arrested and imprisoned for five months for entering the Capitol and “parading,” which apparently means walking around. Her son Salvador received a call from her that she was being tear-gassed. He ran two miles to try to find her in the crowd and help her. When he arrived he saw other protestors being assaulted by police and intervened, in the course of it pushing two officers (something Antifa and BLM activists did many times without punishment). For that he got seven years. Deborah’s mother and grandmother of Salvador, now 81, has had to deal with this and try to raise money for them. You can help here.

Ethan Nordean

Ethan Nordean was given one of the longest sentences of any J6 prisoner — 18 years. What terrible, heinous crime did he commit? Well, he never assaulted anyone, but he did tear down a fence to allow others to move forward and he was charged with conspiracy and “terrorism” for organizing and leading others into the Capitol. Ethan’s sentence of almost two decades is shocking and inexplicable, like so many sentences handed down for J6 protestors. His real crime, of course, was that he didn’t act in the name of a leftist cause, in which case the charges would have been dismissed or given light sentence, as they were for those who stormed the White House when Trump was in office. You can help Ethan here. (BTW, recently released J6 video allegedly suggests that Ray Epps also may have moved a fence.)

Kirstyn Niemela

Kirstyn Niemela entered the Capitol peacefully, waved in by officers, some of whom were telling protestors that as long as they were peaceful it was all fine. She did nothing but walk inside with her friend. And as soon as the pair saw others misbehaving, they quickly walked out. It seemed like a non-event until a year later when her car was pulled over and swarmed by FBI agents. While awaiting trial she was put on a terror watchlist, had her travel restricted, was forced to do monthly drug testing, and lost her Second Amendment rights. Some friends and family have abandoned her. Self-employed, she also lost customers and was put in a difficult financial position. Her public defendant — all she could afford at that point — wasn’t very effective, and she ended up with a sentence of 11 months. You can help her here.

Jeremy Groseclose

Jeremy Groseclose spent a good deal of his time at the J6 event taking photos, which he later posted on social media. However, at one point, he tried to stop a roll-up door from being closed by police. This door was important because it was a potential exit for protesters inside who were trapped in the crowd and didn’t know how to leave. For that he will likely spend many year in prison to guess by sentences being given to others. But to top it off, after nearly three years, he has not yet been given his “speedy trial,” as guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment. Delays are part of the punishment as they cause increased anxiety and expense. The financial and emotional strain on his young family has been overwhelming. You can help here.

Charles Bradford Smith

One of the most egregious sentences of those I have seen is for Charles Bradford Smith. He never even went inside the Capitol. But in consequence of his participation in the J6 protest, he is now is serving a sentence of 41 months in federal prison. What terrible crime did he commit on January 6th? Per the DOJ website, the “defendant participated in pushing a large metal sign frame into officers attempting to secure the capitol grounds.” That’s the main crime highlighted at the top of the DOJ page about Charles Bradford Smith. What does that really mean? According to his mother, he only touched the sign for about seven seconds as it went by him and the sign was never used to injure anyone. Even the prosecution questioned whether this charge made any sense. What seems to have agitated the Court as much or more is that Charles did some bragging on Facebook about his participation. That, said the DOJ, constituted “conspiracy.” So they took more than three years of his young life. You can help Charles here.

Money is tight? You can still help.

The above are just five of nearly a thousand arrested. I picked these five because they are among those few with GiveSendGo pages, but these are just the lucky ones — they have someone in their life who cared enough to put such a page together. Most of those arrested do not have such support. I encourage readers to consider as well these others, and to help in a different way. Many have been abandoned by friends and family and it’s unclear what will happen to them even when they get out. Imagine what a simple card or letter offering well wishes would mean to you in such an unhappy situation. In many cases, the American Gulag web page has prison addresses where such a card or letter could be sent. Why not pick just one and send a few words of encouragement and support?

Two-thousand-year-old wisdom

It’s easy to look at the scale of these mass incarcerations and to be paralyzed with the thought that “with so many in trouble, what good is it for me to do anything?” That perception is such a long-standing psychological response to mass suffering that it is actually addressed in ancient texts from two millennia ago, those writings of the Jews of Biblical times; they are advised “If you save even one life, you save the world.” It certainly applies here.

Just choose one person to help. For that one person you aid — forgotten and alone, in likely the most tragically dark circumstance of their life, just to know that someone out there cares — you will have helped saved their world.