The next discussion in the Kitsap Aware forum series on justice and citizenship is “How Corporations Usurped Constitutional Rights and We Lost Ours.”

The forum is from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, July 1 at Suquamish United Church of Christ, 18732 Division Ave. NE, Suquamish.

The Kitsap Aware forum series is open to the public (admission free), and is sponsored by Indivisible Bainbridge, North Kitsap Indivisible, Indivisible Kingston, Resisterhood360, and the Kitsap Progressive Action Network.

Organizers of the forum note that many people may think that the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in the Citizens United case was a recent aberration in the court’s long history of protecting and expanding personal liberty. But that’s not the case, as the first Supreme Court case conferring the rights of personhood and citizenship on a corporation was decided in 1809, and dozens of cases have expanded those rights ever since. Corporations have prevailed in the vast majority of their cases before both the lower courts and the Supreme Court, and forum organizers add that Citizens United is merely one of the landmarks in a long string of victories that continue right up to Epic Systems Corporation v. Lewis in May 2018.

The public is invited to learn this fascinating and somewhat chilling history at the upcoming forum, and to explore what people can do to help reverse the trend. The non-partisan educational forum will feature a panel of members from the Jefferson County chapter of Move to Amend, a national organization founded in 2009 whose purpose is the restoration of our democratic republic by removing corporate money from the electoral process.

The Kitsap Aware forum series continues on Aug. 5 with “Water Quality in Puget Sound: A Practical Guide to Kitsap Water,” followed on Sept. 9 by “Hate Groups in Kitsap, Session 2.0.”

Future forums will be held at Olympic College in Bremerton, starting with

“Stop the Bullying: Speak Up for the Silent” on Oct. 7.

“Homelessness in Kitsap: Pets Are Not a Luxury” is Nov. 4; “Washington Legislature, the January Session” is Dec. 2.