Horrible: One out of 13 African Americans Can’t Vote Because of a Felony

Tweet

Black voter disenfranchisement is very real in this election and every other.  As the Obama Administration seeks to deal with voter ID laws that keep African Americans off the roles, one area that they should also pay attention to is felon disenfranchisement.  The mass incarceration of African Americans has made one out of every 13 black people ineligible to vote in any election, in most cases turning one felony into a life sentence.

Groups are working to fight the issue, but not enough is being done.  The Republican Party likes keeping black men and women out of the polls because they are most likely to vote Democratic.  But Michelle Alexander, author of “The New Jim Crow,” and others are making a clear case that the decision to incarcerate so many African Americans is not just deliberate, it is destroying black families and black voting rights all across the country.

Yvette Carnell, writing for KultureKritic.com, tells more:

Several Republican ran states, such as Florida, have begun massive voter purges. These purges are being fought by the Justice Department, but less is said about the methodical and disproportionate process in which blacks are disenfranchised because many have felony convictions. According to The Times Picayune:

 One in every 40 adults – and one in every 13 African Americans – can’t vote because of felony convictions, according to a report released Thursday by The Sentencing Project.

 

Read More At Kulture Kritic