January 2nd of this year Jacqueline Caron made a comment to my post about rapper TI and his charity on Thanksgiving. It was not directly related to TI, or charity, but to the plight of ex-convicts.

The comment went verbatim as follows:

It is wonderful to hear possitve for a change. Lets not forget about people who have made mistakes but turned their lide around. They are a forgotten population until this past election. Let’s not forget:

HOW LONG IS LONG ENOUGH?
For any man or woman convicted of a crime, successfully completing their
sentence, along with any assigned parole or probation, is just the
beginning. After their release from confinement, they are faced with re-
integrating themselves back into their community – often in the same area
and with the same influences that provided them opportunity to break the law
in the first place.

Their search for employment is often stonewalled by the fact that they now
have a conviction on their record. Employers performing a routine search
find the negative information, and unless they are part of a progressive
federal or state program, or willing to give the applicant a second chance,
the applicant is put at the bottom of the list of candidates – if they
remain on the list at all.

The goal of improving their own economic status and fighting the impulse to
return to their former ways is complicated further by the fact that even
advanced education – like a master’s degree – is often not enough to
convince a potential employer to give them another chance.

Apartment leases, home mortgages, opening a bank account or a credit card,
and many other processes that non-offenders take for granted are often
closed to these individuals. This situation continues for as long as the
conviction stays on their record, and with the advent of computers, the
information is even easier to find.

How long is long enough for a person convicted of a crime, who has
successfully completed their parole and / or probation, to continue to pay
for that crime? Support this and lets work to make a nationwide effort to give someone who has turned their life around a 2nd chance. Without it some who has a record and tries to move forward can’t because their record is like paying for their crime in life time installments

Jacqueline Caron, Founder / Chairwoman
Connecticut Pardon Team, Inc.
P.O. Box 807 ~ 307 Main Street
Norwich, Connecticut 06360
Toll-free: 1-866-251-3810
Local (Norwich): 1-860-823-1571

Now I will first note that I commend the efforts of Ms. Caron. Few speak out about the difficulty that ex-cons have. And it is quite true that they are punished long after having served their time in prison.

But I must say that I have no sympathy, empathy, or care. Specifically for those involved in crimes that contained violence and/or drugs. Yet even to a major degree for any criminal.

There is an old saying

“If you cannot do the time, do not do the crime.”

Simple and easy enough to understand. Even criminals understand this concept.

I honestly don’t care that an ex-con has a more difficult life than the average person. They made a choice and will have to suffer the consequences of that choice. No one made them become criminals, and they knew full well what repercussions would come from the choice they made.

It is not the burden of society to take care of those that have abandoned societies rules. Yes they have paid their debt to society, but they deserve the marking they receive in their communities. Because it is within those communities that they did the most damage, in general. And contrition cannot be assumed, nor considered done when an individual has been forced into penance.

Can criminals turn around their lives? Definitely. One of the greatest examples of this is Malcolm X. But what is the difference?

Malcolm X educated himself. That is the first requirement. He dedicated himself to self-improvement, thus negating his need or belief that crime was all he had before him. And few criminals follow in this footstep, though while incarcerated they have more than enough time to do so. I don’t feel bad that they do not seek out the means to release themselves from the ultimate prison, their own minds.

Malcolm X also took another great step. Once released from prison he went out and helped the community. He went about correcting the damage he caused. He tried to help others become educated so that they would not fall into the internal trap he himself had done. He committed acts of penance.

Was it difficult in the 1960’s to do the things that Malcolm X did? Absolutely. Drugs abounded, with virtually no intervention by law enforcement in Black neighborhoods. There were few legal opportunities with the weight of segregation and racial prejudice rampant in the nation. And there was as much, if not far more, distrust in the Black community of ex-cons – which at the time was a far more close-knit community than exists today.

Add to that the religious aspects of his life after prison, which was far less accepted than today, and you have a highly troubling path to follow. Ex-cons of today have exponentially more avenues to success and redemption than existed 40 years ago. The difficulty of reforming today is scarcely the difficulty of then, and it was more common (in my opinion) than today.

If you look at all those that had criminal pasts and today are reformed and successful, I would bet that the majority followed similar steps as those of Malcolm X. They struggled and strived for a better life. In doing so they proved their convictions and were rewarded. Nothing less should be expected.

I don’t want to make the life of an ex-con more difficult. At the same time I will not make it more comfortable. I sleep well at night in full knowledge that ex-cons are troubled. I would not if my taxes, or any involuntary help from myself, were given en masse.

I realize I am throwing a wide blanket. But sometimes that is what is needed. At this moment in America, when our youth are being given every reason to become “ganstas”, reinforcing that thought with the notion that the consequences of their actions will be cushioned by some who have a belief of giving without circumstance is a horrible concept. It does not improve the lives of the community, nor would that help the society at large.

Many may find my view harsh. I fully admit it is. But it is that harsh reality that I believe in that reminds all those around me that criminal acts are not simple, meaningless, nor fun. It is that enforcement of punishment and difficulty that may help keep an individual from straying. And I believe that this view was one more deeply held in decades past.

Our enlightened view of the world today causes more problems than our less technological, less sophisticated past. Vices are more common, and defended, than ever before. Criminals are treated with more compassion than they deserve. And we have more excuses for every individual act against society than justifiable.

So if you ask me how long should an ex-con be punished for their conscious actions, especially but not exclusively those that commit violent or drug related crimes, my only answer is until they have proven beyond doubt they are worthy of trust on any level. If that takes a lifetime, so be it. That is the consequence of the choice they made freely.

But if you believe there is a counter to this, I am open to hear it.

Labels: Connecticut Pardon Team, Jacqueline Caron, Malcolm X, violent crime

In a recent conversation I had with a friend, I was told that “no disrespect, but you’re not black.” Now this is a friend and I understood the context in which he was speaking, so I wasn’t upset. But it’s not the first time that I’ve been told this. Considering my Puerto Rican, Irish, Native American Indian and Taino Indian background, I agree that I’m not just an African American. But that isn’t what was meant. It was more in reference to the fact that I do not live in a thug lifestyle, speak proper English, and dress in suits more often than jeans.

But that got me thinking. What is it to be Black, or African American. I mean there is a huge economy based on just that thought. Music videos, rap songs, clothing lines, billions are spent world wide to capture an image that is “black” and “keeping it real”, whatever that means. But can that really be all there is to being black? Is the culture that superficial these days?

Mr. Juan Williams wrote an interesting opinion piece recently, Missing: A black voice for economic equality, that addressed the fact that many are asking about the next Dr. Martin Luther King. In that opinion he mentions the fact that 100 years ago prominent Black African Americans, such as Mr. Booker T. Washington, stated the key to improving the quality of life is self-help. This same message was repeated by Dr. King and Mr. Malcolm X.

Yet those messages have been mostly discarded. What else can be said when the chances of a young Black African American male being killed or jailed by 25 are greater than the chance to graduate high school. That the chance of a young Black African American woman having a child, out of wedlock, by 25 is higher than her chance of getting thru college. Obviously there are problems and they aren’t getting answered.

The insistence within the Black culture on living as thugs is a self-limiting expression. The fact that the youth of today want to be pimps and hoes, criminals by any other terms would make the fore-fathers spin in their graves. I cannot imagine that Dr. King or Malcolm X, envisioned a day were equality was considered the ability to father children without the attempt to take care of them, or the inability to communicate socially with others. In fact by the standards of today both of these men would not be considered black either.

At least in that respect I’m in good company. So what is being black today? Is a rapper black? Is a thug black? What about a stockbroker or a doctor, a sanitation worker or a teacher? Must any professional also be ill-spoken and brutish or risk being a sell-out? Can a person like other genres of music, or styles of dress and still be what they obviously are by birth.

Without opening my mouth, I am Black and Puerto Rican. I look in the mirror and I am just that, so why do some presume that I must also act, speak and look a certain way to confirm what I am. I understand when friends say I don’t match the popular norms associated with being African American. But why should anyone have to match a set of criteria? Is this an isolated thing? I’ve never heard anyone tell a White person that they aren’t White. The same with Asians. So why does this division exist?

This is what I think, what do you think?

Labels: African American, Dr. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Michael Vass, music video, puerto rican, rap music

I ran across an article today while engaging in my business activies. This article has stirred many harsh feelings and my further research on the subject has fueled rage. My feelings are not unlike those of millions of others.

The article is Black Buying Blackout - Christmas 2005. I had never before heard of this demonstration, 2005 being the second year it has been called for. I can say that I think the limited number of days should be increased to truely drive home the impact to corporations and businesses, and thus ultimately via taxes and other causes to the U.S. Govenment, what the lack of roughly 38 million Blacks' $700 billion-a-year buying power can do.

The goal of this 'Blackout' is to bring attention to the ongoing question of reparations due to black african american, descended from the slaves taken from Africa and brought to the U.S. [I will add here that I am aware that on my mothers' side of the family tree stops in 1863, with no information going beyond the fact that the family were slaves.] the exact issues are:
1) to demand reparations to compensate for unpaid labor by African slaves from 1619 to 1865, and for legal segregation and the Southern peonage system from 1865 to 1965;
2) to create pressure on the political-economic system;
3) to begin a process of unifying people of African descent for political purposes.

The Blackout and its goals are supported by multiple groups and individuals including: Bennett J. Johnson of the National Black Political Convention, the NDABA [Great Sit Down], Nation of Islam, National Black United Front, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Global African Congress, Fernwood United Methodist Church, Black Lawyers for Justice.

Beyond the Blackout and those that support it, I came to think about the statement 40 Acres & A Mule. The question of where it came from and its impact on reparations. While there is alot of information on it I found this item by Gerene L. Freeman to be most informative. Not only due to the wealth of information but also due to the fact it delves into the social conciousness about slavery. Many still do not wish to discuss slavery in America. I feel it is the one national taboo that though while addressed on a cursory level many times it has never been dealt with. It is so ingrained in people of this nation that neither Blacks, Whiters or anyone else wishes to discuss it on a national level, and even in smaller more personal groups the subject is shunned and dismissed rather than spoken about. This amounts to mass denial on a national, and due to the interconnected manner in which the world operates even global, level in my opinion. Obvisouly to me this means that something must be wrong, since it is so deeply entrenched in the American psyche not to discuss it.

But as to the 40 acres, many of the youth as well as adults (White or Black Americans) have no idea what this means. A smaller group understand it as only the name of the production company for Mr. Spike Lee. Reparations is what is being directly referred to when the 40 acres and a mule is brought up. As mentioned in the goals of Blackout, it is directly part of the compensation for unpaid labor by African slaves from 1619 to 1865. More fully it is linked to General Sherman and War Department, Special Order No. 15 - "The islands of Charleston south, the abandoned rice fields along the rivers for thirty miles back from the sea, and the country bordering St. Johns River, Florida, are reserved and set apart for the settlement of [N]egroes now made free by the acts of war and the proclamation of the President of the United States." Additional reference to First Freedmen’s Bureau Act, which stated “shall have authority to set apart for use of loyal refugees and freedmen such tracts of land within the insurrectionary states as shall have been abandoned or to which the United States shall have acquired title by confiscation or sale, or otherwise; and to every male citizen, whether refugee or freedman, as aforesaid there shall be assigned not more than 40 acres of such land.”

While the order by General Sherman did in fact provide for land, the above mentioned First Freedmen’s Bureau Act was shot down by Congress, this was later rescinded by President Johnson, even though it was argued that "...In my opinion this order of General Sherman is as binding as a statute." Reparations have been discussed and propased to Congress since that time for roughly 138 years, and has not been resolved yet.

Starting in 1989, U.S. Representative John Conyers Jr. began annually introducing legislation calling for a study of the lasting effects of slavery and possible reparations. Why some would ask? What benifit could it bring?

Well there is NO question that America was built largely due to the efforts of slaves. The U.S. was an agriculture based economy and the cash crops of cotton, tobacco, staples such as corn and rice, were grown in the south with slave labor.
Estimates of the value of the unpaid labor and/or the above mentioned land has been placed from $9.7trillion to $24trillion, with other estimates slightly lower and many higher. Such estimates only confirm the absolute value and impact slave labor had on the formation of this nation. The foundation of this nation, upon which all other advances and acheivements have been accomplished, is based in that fact.

After the slaves were freed, which happened with the 13th Ammendment and not the Emancipation Proclimation [you can see President Lincolns' thoughts on this matter in my post to a comment at History in America comments], Jim Crow and other equally repressive laws and actions hindered Black African Americans. Incidents have occured even in the 20th century and include the Tuskegee syphilis experiments in the 1930s, the destruction of Tulsa’s Black neighborhoods in 1921 and the loss of life and property when the all-Black town of Rosewood was destroyed by a white mob in 1923. The need to have a civil rights movement clearly states that there was massive widespread and constant repression of black african americans over many decades at the least.

Even with the many individuals and groups who have actively supported reparations, including Mr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and U.S. Representative John Conyers Jr., there still has been no action. Yet reparations have been made to Japanese Americans and Native American Indians, at least to some degree. Remorse has been expressed by the Government to both groups. Yet the United States Govenment has never apoligized nor acknowledged the wrongs done with slavery and its actions/attitudes in the over a century since that time.

It seems incredible that any government or institution could overlook such actions, I think. The world could not abide a lack of reparations for the Holocost, yet the unknown numbers of black african americans that died (as damaged goods lost in transport for sale, or by slave owners as useless property, or from acts of cruelty) for centuries is something that can't even be discussed. I have a major problem with that.

Why reparations? In my mind it is simple... the nation has never healed, and never will until admission of its actions up to and including the civil rights movement is made. Monetary repayment is due, made perhaps in other manners besides direct cash payments [perhaps a fixed tax credit that is used over a lifetime and transferable to offspring until used], but denial of the fact of how this nation came to be is no excuse. We will never get beyond the nations largest and most subtle activity which is the division of Americans based on race, if we cannot come to terms with the past.

Not quite the cheerful Christmas thought, but then again for centuries there are many who never enjoyed it either. Your momentary discomfort will pass.

This is what I think, What about you?

Labels: 40 Acres and A Mule, American Slavery, General Sherman, Malcolm X, National Black Political Convention, President Lincoln, Reparations for Slavery, U.S. Representative John Conyers Jr

"History is the story of the winners," I'm not sure who stated that quote but truer words are rarely said. Equally as true is this statement made by Mr. Morgan Freeman "I don't want a black history month. Black history is American history."

Those 2 statment sum up so much for me. It also brings back a question I had in high school, why did black history basically take up one paragraph and a reference to Crispus Attucks and nothing more? My youngest sister (14 years my junior) had a history book that had the equivalent of 1 page, and this is after the strides to make American history more reflective of all the peoples responsible for the creation of this great nation. One page, with little to no mention of who created the number system that is used today [Arabs whom are black or under the classification I learned years ago as being Asian, Causasian, Negroid and Native Indians such as Eskimos] or what is sub-Saharan Africa, or who created the Jenny Coupler, automatic refrigeration system for long-haul trucks, treat ments for glaucoma and rheumatoid arthritis. Or who people like Granville T. Woods were.

The promotion of misconcepts too, such as Egyptians and those above the Sahara all being white and only those from below being black. Or that the reason for the Civil War was due to slavey [it was an economic decision - the U.S. was an agricultural-based economy then and if I recall correctly the south had more people - Slavery was about 4th on the list or lower].

Why is it that the history of Blacks in America is so incomplete? Who was it that thought that the concept of celebrating the shortest month of the year for Black history is enough and nothing else really need be done? Why did (and perhaps we still do, someone let me know) we teach about WW II, the Marines at Iwo Jima, and what happened to the Jews, but can't mention the breakthroughs of Black pilots in that war? Or how about what were black people doing in this nation after slavery but before the Civil Rights movement and Martin Luther King or Malcolm X? Obviously the list of inventions and inventors mentioned above give some clue that alot was happening.

Obviously alot needs to be left out if we want anyone to get more out of an education than just the history of this nation, as many peoples have helped to create the nation we live in today. That does not excuse the blatant slap in the face given to the millions who have bled for this country, both in war and in building this nation during peace. I don't need a seperate history or a month of sporadic commercials to remind me that my ancestors were here. My ancestors earned the right for me to be told the U.S. history, a history that includes them.

Just a few of the thoughts that the statement by Mr. Morgan Freeman makes me think of. What do you think?

Labels: Black History Month, Civil War, Crispus Attucks, Dr. Martin Luther King, Granville T. Woods, Jenny Coupler, Malcolm X, Morgan Freeman