The Last Disenfranchised Group of Citizens

New York State incarcerates nearly 70,000 prisoners; 57,000 more are on parole. Nearly 80 percent are black and Latino men from New York City. The state releases almost 30,000 prisoners each year; most parolees return to their home communities – a large number to Harlem, the South Bronx, Jamaica, and the Rockaways. These New Yorkers are legally disenfranchised.

There is a sinister element to disenfranchisement – a throwback to when blacks were forcibly prevented from voting and even further back, when they were slaves, counted as 3/5 of a person for purposes of representation, though they had no rights as human beings.

Not only does felon disenfranchisement dilute the political power of communities of color; it adds to the political clout of upstate communities where prisons have been built. Federal law allows upstate white communities with prison populations to count prisoners as part of their population in the census. This provides these communities with greater representation and more funds, since census data are used to determine these things. Upstate legislators enjoy the benefits that the increased numbers of prisoners represent, but they can ignore their needs since prisoners are prohibited from voting.

Lawsuit Filed

The Community Service Society joined with the NAACP-Legal Defense Fund and the Center for Law and Social Justice in a lawsuit – now called Muntaqim v. Coombe - to cut the shackles that bind prisoners and parolees from the right to vote. The case was argued last week in the U.S. Court of Appeals.

1.4 million black
men can’t voteThe case addresses one narrow, yet complicated issue: Can the Voting Rights Act of 1965 be used to challenge felon disfranchisement laws that result in a disproportionate number of African American and Latino voters being excluded from voting? The case was also filed on behalf of black and Latino residents of the small number of communities in New York City where the majority of prisoners come from and return to once on parole, on the theory that the collective voting strength of these communities is diminished by felon disfranchisement laws.

Nationally, about 1.4 million black men can’t vote because of felon disenfranchisement laws. Three-quarters of all disenfranchised felons are no longer in prison. Many of them have jobs and pay taxes. But many others are adrift, without a hope of employment or a place in the community.

Recently, members of the Congressional Black Caucus – led by Rep. Gregory Meeks - convened a conference in New York City on the status of black men in our society. Jobs was a major topic. The latest labor market report released by the Community Service Society reveals that 40 percent of the city’s black men were jobless last year - that’s about 235,000 people, the population of Newark, New Jersey.

An unaccounted factor for the low rate of their jobholding is the high percentage of felony convictions. An estimated 16.6 percent of black men are current or former state or federal prisoners – a rate six times that of white men.

Racial discrimination is a major factor in the economic lives of African American men. Recently, an experiment was conducted in New York City where black men and white men – with equivalent resumes of education and experience - posed as applicants for entry-level jobs. The white men admitted to having a criminal record; the blacks no record.

The result: white men with criminal records had a better chance of getting a job offer or a callback after an initial interview than black men without records. Black men with criminal records were only about one-third as likely to get a job offer as white men with criminal records. Consider the implications of this when one in three black men with only a high school diploma will go to prison before the age of 40.

Barriers to Employment

Besides providing an excuse not to hire African American men, a felony conviction bars them from employment in several sectors of the economy because an increasing number of jobs in the workforce are now off-limits to anyone with a prison record. In New York State, these include such innocuous occupations as licensed barber or plumber. These barriers to employment contribute to a 50 percent recidivism rate within three years after release.

There was a time – before the Rockefeller drug laws overwhelmed the system – when people released from prison had to have a job and a place to live before being paroled. Now they’re given a few hundred dollars and cut loose with little possibility of finding a job or a place back in their communities.

Communities of color will continue to face difficulties influencing public policies and funding until we expand our political strength. That should include restoring the vote to the last disenfranchised group of American citizens.

From the New York Amsterdam News
June 30 - July 13, 2005