Stop racist tampering with the right to vote!
The federal and state governments of the United States of America, to sap the political power of minorities, have consistently used felon disenfranchisement, and continue to this very day.
Black men make up slightly over 1/5 of this population and are disenfranchised at a rate 7 times the national average. Furthermore, Angela Behrens and Christopher Uggen did a study of all disenfranchisement laws passed from 1850 to 2002, and found that each 1% increase in the percentage of prisoners who are nonwhite increases the odds by about 10% that a state will pass its 1rst felon disenfranchisement law. Finally, a multitude of predominantly white affluent counties in the United States have had prisons built within their borders. The prisoners that fill those prisons are disproportionately minorities and poor. This racist policy has led to greater congressional representation (because of a greater population due to the prisoners) for the white counties while depriving the prisoners of the right to be part of that congressional representation, due to disenfranchisement. The other side of this policy is that the prisoners work involuntarily and provide income for those counties allowing the predominantly white residents to enjoy the benefits of their labor while post-incarceration the prisoners go back to their impoverished counties.
Racism is not over because it is no longer explicit it has just been swept under the rug.
We petition the senate for:
1. Legislation to be passed allowing ALL felons to retain the right to vote. This is to keep the right to vote out from having any chance at being manipulated by racist politicians. Steps should be made in this direction which may initially include repealing laws that prohibit felons that have completed their sentences from voting, including the passing of the Civic Participation and Rehabilitation Act of 1999 introduced by Representative John Conyers of Michigan.
2. The construction of future prisons in impoverished counties to combat the economic transfer outlined above and in footnote 3.
3. The establishment of a multi-racial commission to study the causes of disproportionate criminal convictions (in particular minorities and the lower class) in the United States.
4. The commission would then make recommendations to Congress on methods to combat criminal racial inequalities and realize a truly equal society.
