I got up this morning and like several thousand (maybe millions) of other people I logged into my Facebook account and checked to see what was going on in the world, at least the FB world.
Well first, I had to check a comment left by my online “Boo” up there in Tennessee who I think reads these blogs I put online, who knows? She wanted to know, then didn’t want to know, what I did for a living. I chuckled, ask her what she thought I did for a living, and then went on to see what else was out there.
I had a “friend request” out there in “cyberland” so I clicked on the link to see who wanted to be my friend. It was a young man from Port Penn, Delaware…okay. Well, I checked the mutual friend that showed up, he only had one, and then checked out his profile cause sometimes you get those people who only want to advertise their sleazy (who am I to judge “sleazy”) or inappropriate products or services to you. So I perused his information page to see what he was all about. As I looked through it, something caught my eye…his political views! Now normally this would not even matter to me, your views are your views and I don’t really care whether you are a Democrat or a Republican cause most people don’t even know why they are either, but his said something different…”Felons can’t vote”.
Disenfranchisement of felons is not new, and yes, I knew that felons couldn’t vote in a lot of states or have restrictions on their ability to vote. But something moved me, urged me to click on that statement to see what would follow. So I did, and got three web results: Washington Post, Time magazine and Straightdope.com. Hmmm, which one should I click on? Washington Post…too conservative! Straightdope.com…never heard of it but seems too liberal. After seconds of deep thought and deliberation, I clicked on the Time magazine link ‘cause I like CNN. I eventually read all three articles but I had to start somewhere (links to all three articles included at the end of the blog).
The whole idea of felon disenfranchisement started with guess what…race! Disenfranchisement laws, particularly in the South, were created largely to prevent African-Americans from being able to vote. As it is today, at the beginning of the Civil War, African-Americans were disproportionately represented in the prison population and to prevent the rare possibility of them voting during pre-Civil War days, laws were enacted in the States to prevent those with criminal records from voting. The 14th Amendment, Section 2 gives States the right to deny the right to vote for “participation in rebellion, or other crime.” That's ironic because the whole idea of "The United States" and "The Constitution" and "We The People" was based on the idea of rebellion and therefore no one should be allowed to vote.
Today however, felon disenfranchisement has become more of a political argument rather than one of civil rights or the restoration of civil rights for felons. Since most felons are from low-income, predominately minority, particularly African-American homes and since most African-Americans and low-income minority voters usually vote Democratic (65 to 90 percent), Republicans, and now “Tea Party-ers”, would not want to see an additional 4 to 5 million voters on the rolls. In addition to that, how many legislators, at any level of government will be willing to base their platform and election hopes on giving any rights back to felons. Too bad the Constitution didn't say when enough was enough!
If you want to read the articles for yourself, here are the links:
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1553510,00.html
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1789/why-cant-felons-vote
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9785-2004Aug17.html
wow I learned something new today that i did not know. And i profess to be a lover of history now i have something to go look up and research. thanks Art!!!
ReplyDeleteI've never really believed that the voting rights of felons being rescinded was constitutional. Once the sentence is served, the "debt to society" is paid. Felony conviction is not a dissolution of citizenship.
ReplyDeleteAsk most felons and you find that the sentence is never served and the debt is never paid. In effect, a felony conviction is a life sentence. That unless you have the money to afford it or enough money to survive with it, you never finish the sentence. So much for "LIFE, LIBERTY, AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS."
ReplyDeleteThis is gashousegurl's dad, I am a convicted felon, several times over. You are right, once a felon the sentence is never over, but here is one thing you may not know. Convicted felons can now vote once out of prison and their time is served, also African americans were supposed to be minority, but no longer is this applied, also, african americans can vote while in prison but caucasions can't, whats up with that?
ReplyDeleteNow if you are as smart as you were acting you would know that african americans are no longer minorities.Caucasions are, mainly caucasion females. But if you want to act like other races owe african americans something in return, then something is wrong with you and that would make you the one being racist. Every race has been slaved, every race has had something taken from them. So as long as races and people like you keep saying that people owe you things is wrong. You just keep the racism going. We all should just call it fair, except for the indians because they just got screwed all the way around and for starters your own kind started selling black people to white people. So before you try and act smart read up on your history........
ReplyDeleteyou know i think you live in some kind of bubble i have no clue where you gather your facts.. this coming from a caucasion woman.... i come from a long line of convicts and some of my best friends are convicts as well. once you serve your time your debt is paid to society and no one should be able not to vote and i don't no why your stuck in the past because black's are not a minority any more.they have not been for some time now. like my friend said blacks are allowed to vote in prison where caucasion's are not but if caucasion prisoner's where allowed to vote i wonder how things would end up?? me personally i don't care if your black ,white,brown ,or green everyone ,everywhere should have the same rights to vote. if black prisoner's can then caucasion prisoner's should. as to you bringing up the civil war that is completely irrelevent to this but since you insisted on bringing up a war to make a point let me remind you WOMEN COULD NOT VOTE THEN EITHER!!!!! YOU LEFT THAT FACT OUT..I mean this blog is about voting rights?? then why would you leave out such a important part of history probably because you are a man...
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy these comments. People who half read the blogs and then try and find one thing that they can complain about. I didn't make disenfranchisement laws, white folks did! This was not a bash on convicts, it was in support of them. I firmly believe that once the sentence is over, it should be over, in all respects, voting or otherwise. This was not a review of racism or a "who did who wrong song" but a commentary on three articles I read and my FB friends statement of his political views but those that are "racially challenged" will no doubt see racism where none was intended.
ReplyDeleteConvicted-white-felon, I didn't know that blacks could vote in prison and whites couldn't. I'll have to look into why that is. Also, some states still do not permit felons to vote and others have restrictions. Luckily, a large majority of states do allow felons to vote after completion of their sentences. Voting rights for felons were taken away because legislators felt that because they had made a bad choice in commiting their crime, they could not be trusted to make a "good choice" in an election so they shouldn't be allowed to vote. The statement was originally made about blacks but the Supreme Court widened it to include all felons.
Up to date student I would like to see your stats on that but if you are saying that caucasians are a minority when compared to non-caucasians, you are right, caucasians are the minority. Also, let's not excuse the behavior of those who made commerce and money from the enslavement of blacks by stating that other people have been enslaved also. Should the behaviors of a rapist or a murderer be excused on the basis that others have also done it? The legality of slavery allowed a nation to subjugate, humiliate, and denegrate a whole race of people, the only "race" in America to have underwent such treatment. For you to somehow minimalize that experience to a level of nothingness, takes away the lesson we all need to learn, and we learn nothing from it. That mentality is what angers Blacks the most, not the slavery or the act of enslavement, but the minimalization of it.