Civil rights activists and faith-based groups on Tuesday presented the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors with more than 75,000 signatures on a petition demanding the termination of gang prosecutor Michael Selyem, who created a political firestorm with a series of offensive rants on social media.
“Today, specifically, we are here to deliver over 75,000 signed petitions asking for nothing less than the termination of Michael Selyem as a prosecutor for this county because of his actions — because of his vile words said about a seated, decorated congresswoman, Maxine Waters, his vile comments toward the former first lady, Michelle Obama, and even the calling for an assassination of a young man, even though he did wrong,” said the Rev. Samuel Casey of New Life Christian Church in Fontana and a vice president of Inland Empire Concerned African American Churches.
The grass-roots group, calling itself the “ReThinkPublicSafetySB Coalition, also is demanding that the District Attorneys Office implement mandatory bias training for all staff, and that the Board of Supervisors allocate funds for it. Members also are calling on the county to allocate more funding for rehabilitation services and youth intervention programs.
Rabbi Hillel Cohn along with a group that call themselves #ReThinkPublicSafetySB Coalition speaks during a San Bernardino Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, July 24, 2018.The group is demanding the ouster of San Bernardino County lead gang prosecutor Michael Selyem for a spate of racist, xenophobic and sexist rants on social media. (Photo by Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
A group that calls iself #ReThinkPublicSafetySB Coalition arrives with over 75,000 signatures to deliver to a San Bernardino Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, July 24, 2018. The group is demanding the ouster of San Bernardino County lead gang prosecutor Michael Selyem for a spate of racist, xenophobic and sexist rants on social media. (Photo by Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
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A group that call themselves #ReThinkPublicSafetySB Coalition arrive with over 75,000 signatures to deliver to a San Bernardino Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, July 24, 2018.The group is demanding the ouster of San Bernardino County lead gang prosecutor Michael Selyem for a spate of racist, xenophobic and sexist rants on social media. (Photo by Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Rev. Sam Casey, with Inland Empire Concerned African American Churches, along with a group that call themselves #ReThinkPublicSafetySB Coalition arrive with over 75,000 signatures during a San Bernardino Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, July 24, 2018.The group is demanding the ouster of San Bernardino County lead gang prosecutor Michael Selyem for a spate of racist, xenophobic and sexist rants on social media. (Photo by Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Aaron Bratton, with Color of Change, speaks at the podium as a group that call themselves #ReThinkPublicSafetySB Coalition hold up boxes containing over 75,000 signatures during a San Bernardino Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, July 24, 2018.The group is demanding the ouster of San Bernardino County lead gang prosecutor Michael Selyem for a spate of racist, xenophobic and sexist rants on social media. (Photo by Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
A group that call themselves #ReThinkPublicSafetySB Coalition arrive with over 75,000 signatures during a San Bernardino Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, July 24, 2018.The group is demanding the ouster of San Bernardino County lead gang prosecutor Michael Selyem for a spate of racist, xenophobic and sexist rants on social media. (Photo by Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
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“Mr. Selyems hateful comments cannot help but fill us all with outrage,” Rabbi Hillel Cohn of Congregation Emanu El in Redlands told the Board of Supervisors during its Tuesday meeting in San Bernardino. “His words are inexcusable and deserve the most powerful kind of condemnation that you as a body can articulate.”
Among Selyems inappropriate online posts include an argument he had with someone over the police shooting of a civilian. In it, he wrote, “That (expletive) got exactly what he deserved. … You reap what you sow. And by the way go (expletive) yourself you liberal (expletive).”
Selyem also targeted outspoken U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, former first lady Michelle Obama, and Mexican immigrants.
Of Waters, Selyem said: “Being a loud-mouthed (expletive) in the ghetto you would think someone would have shot this bitch by now …” He also posted a doctored picture of Michelle Obama holding a sign saying, “Trump grabbed my penis.”
Another of Selyems posts included a meme showing a man in a giant sombrero with the words, “Mexican word of the day: Hide.”
District Attorney Michael Ramos has refrained from commenting further on Selyems employment following a July 9 news conference at his office, when he announced that the veteran prosecutor had been placed on paid administrative leave and that an investigation into his actions would be expanding.
The announcement came three days after the Southern California News Group detailed Selyems rants, which became national news and caught the attention of civil rights activists from across the nation, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson.
“This is an ongoing personnel issue and we will not be releasing any further details or information at this time,” district attorneys spokesman Christopher Lee said in an email Tuesday.
The day Selyem was placed on paid leave, Ramos said all of his cases had been reassigned, and that the office had a case review unit that would re-evaluate any case Selyem prosecuted upon request from any current or former defendant.
The group has also called on a thorough investigation by the District Attorneys Office of all its employees to ferret out any other biased prosecutors.
“We call on you to re-evaluate, and if necessary, to reapportion funds allocated to the DAs Office to include sufficient funding to carry out a comprehensive investigation of the DAs Office and its employees that will assure that every possible step has been taken to end any and all forms of racism both overt and subtle,” Cohn told the Board of Supervisors. “Such behavior on the part of public officials is simply intolerable.”
Last week, four members of the state Legislature — Sen. Connie Levya, D-Chino, and Assembly members Freddie Rodriguez, D-Pomona, Eloise Reyes, D-Grand Terrace, and Chris Holden, D-Pasadena — called on the state Attorney Generals Office to investigate Selyem.
Casey said his coalition has “lost all confidence in the leadership of the District Attorneys Office,” and that his group also is calling on the state to review all of Selyems past cases.
“Were asking for the attorney general of the state of California to come in and review all of Selyems cases for the last 12 years because it is obvious that he has bias,” Casey said.
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