America's Second-Class Citizens
For many ex-cons life outside of prison will not be as fulfilling and purposeful as the likes of Alice Marie Johnson and Cyntoia Brown-Long who garnered national attention, came home to book deals and paid speaking engagements because of their time in prison. I'm not knocking them, God Bless them and I wish them well and all the success.
However, for the tens of thousands that's coming home from prison, life will not be so welcoming from society other than family and friends. Road block after road block will be waiting the day, they step foot outside those prison walls. Everything from decent employment, housing, voting rights and so much more will not be available because of their existing felony conviction.
In December of 2018 Congress passed the "First Step Act" and it was signed into law by President Trump. The law was intended to ease some of these restrictions that ex-cons face after release from prison on the federal level. The problem is that most states have not created similar laws to assist convicted felons on making a transition back into society. Until state legislators craft and sign into law their own criminal justice reform, recidivism rates will continue to go up and a nice size of our society will live as second-class citizens in America.
On February 26 the House passed the “Equality Act”, a bill aimed at protecting the rights and lives of those who are a part of the LGBTQ community. No one should be discriminated against because of their sexual orientation, rightfully so, this is an important bill, however, my issue with the bill is that it would have been a lot better if ex-cons or convicted felons was included in this bill, since the title of it is called “Equality Act”.
I understand that those who consider themselves LGBTQ face un-normal circumstances in this country, however, there is no one in America that’s more discriminated against then someone with a felony conviction on their record. Here is a list of opportunities that felons have no protections against;
Voting (in some states)
Traveling Abroad (varies by country)
The right to bear arms
Jury service
Employment in certain fields
Public social benefits and housing
The very existence of someone that’s been convicted of a felony is wiped out and this makes it hard for ex-cons and felons to exist in a society that they are rejected from. Things have to change if America wants a better society, and not picking groups of people whom they deem are worthy of living the American Dream and not others.
People in the LGBTQ community, should not only demand equal protection under the law simply for themselves, but also those whom they can identify with when it comes to discrimination and ill-treatment and that’s convicted felons. Once again there is no other person more discriminated against in America then ex-cons and convicted felons, facts.