Archives - Uriah Fields congratulates Gov. McAuliffe on Felons' Voting Rights restoration
May 2016
Letters to the Editor: Uriah Fields congratulates Gov. McAuliffe on Felons' Voting Rights restoration
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George,

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe issued an executive order on April 22nd that extended voting rights to an estimated 206,000 convicted felons who have served their time and completed parole.

This will impact African Americans more than any other group because in Virginia one in every five African Americans have lost their voting rights according to a recent Sentencing Project Report. Nationwide one in every thirteen African Americans have lost their voting rights because they are designated as felons.

Although Blacks, and I will use the term Blacks in the remainder of this discourse because it is appropriate when speaking of white racism, make up 13 percent of the population of the United States they constitute 40 percent of those incarcerated. The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics report that there are 2,220.300 adults incarcerated in Federal and State prisons. In 2015 some 4,751.400 adults were on probation or parole and a total of 6,899,000 adults were under correctional supervision. In addition, 54,148 juveniles were in Juvenile detentions.

Black men in America are more than six times likely as white men to be incarcerated. America has 5 percent of the world population and 25 percent of the world prison population. This is happening in a nation that many Americans refer to as a Christian nation. This too, is the meaning of "American exceptionalism" that should be highlighted every time that term is used.

On behalf of African Americans in Virginia and throughout America and all Americans who believe in equal justice for all I express "kudos and thanks to Gov. Terry McAuliffe" for having the courage to extend voting rights to felons who have served their time in prison. During the last two presidential elections while knocking on more than a few doors in Chartlottesville and urging people to vote or register to vote, I encountered a number of young black men and some not so young who told me they could not vote because they are felons. Now these and two thousands others will be able to vote. Gov. McAuliffe said that each month he will extend voting rights to felons who have served their time. I hope we will cease calling them felons or ex-felons once they have served their time. Call them Americans. Don't stigmatize them with a name that denies them opportunities.

Maine and Vermont are states without any restriction on voting for felons and evidence indicates that they have not been any more harmful to society than the rest of the population in those states or other states, for that matter.

I call on other States  throughout America to follow Virginia's lead and allow felons who have been released from prison to register to vote. More especially do I appeal to my native state of Alabama where blacks constituting 26.8 percent of the population with 1,788 prisoners in contrast to whites constituting 68.5 percent of the population with only 535 prisoners. I also appeal to California where I was a resident for more than 30 years with a black population of 14 percent with 3,036 prisoners in contrast to whites constituting 73.2 percent of the population with only 453 prisoners. It is important to note that in 2015 the estimated population of California is 39,144.818, nearly eight times that of Alabama which has a population of 4,858.979.

To those Virginia Republicans lawmakers who claim in extending voting rights to released prisoners Gov. McAuliffe overstepped his authority and that he did so to favor Democrats, I say to them, Blacks will vote for politicians, regardless of their political party, who support their agenda. I recall when I attempted to vote in  Montgomery, Alabama, even though I was a veteran of the Korean War, it was difficult for me to register to vote. But I persevered until I succeeded in becoming  registered to vote. This was eleven years before the Federal Voting Rights Act. (Let me add, Lowndes County that adjoins Montgomery County, had a 65 percent black population but not a single black voter...and most Americans, North or South didn't really give a damn).

In the early nineteen-sixties, I became a resident of California; fed up with Democrats/Dixiecrats, I became and remained a Republican for more than thirty years. I was a candidate for Congress and received 11.512 votes. I was also a delegate to the California State Convention. I felt then that Republicans best served my interest and that of black people. I mention this to inform Virginia Republican lawmakers that if they support the interest of black people they will get a significant percentage of their votes. I should know because I have done that. But during the last several decades, following Southern Dixiecrats and like-minded Republicans from some other States, takeover of the Republican Party, I have not voted for Republicans, even when I wanted to vote for an alternative to a Democrat seeking that office. We all should know that felons released from prison deserve the right to vote and should be encouraged to vote by their fellow-citizens and become productive and law-abiding citizens.

Systemic racism and greed account for the excessive amount of incarceration of black people Let America give up her distinction of being the "number one jailer or the word" and institute a just justice system that will significantly decrease the prison population. It is time for America to join other nations of the world, give up her unenvious distinction of being the number one Jailer of the world, and institute a just justice system that will significantly decrease the prison population.

Finally, it is worth noting that the huge amount of money that supports incarceration accounts for the excessive incarceration of people. This includes money allocated to operate private prisons  which have no place in a Democratic society. The same can be said about operating Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp, a United States military prison in Cuba that currently detains 122 alleged terrorists. Many people including judges, prosecutors, security guards and a host of others owe their employment to the incarceration of people. Also of significance is the money-making labor prisoners render, making some people wealthy or financially well-off. For more than a decade annually I visited a California businessman who told me that he provided salad dressings for prisons. He was a millionaire.

Uriah J. Fields (electronic mail, May 2, 2016)



Comments? Questions? Write me at george@loper.org.