It's easy to vilify ex-felons around election-time. Even though these folks have served their time and paid their societal debt (often for non-violent drug convictions), they are too often denied the most basic right in our Constitution -- the right to self-determination via the voting booth.
With the help of some inside sources, I've been following the NYCLU's videos about Maria Perez, an ex-felon who had been wrongly kept from voting in 2004 despite NY law that allows ex-felons off probation to vote. All she wanted to do was express her political opinion at the ballot box...to be one of 7 million New Yorkers to have their voices heard.
With the help of the NYCLU, she finally got to cast her vote on Nov. 4. No matter who you supported -- or who Maria supported -- this is a magical video. I saw a lot of tears in my Bed-Stuy precinct after folks voted, but few as poignant as this. In Maria's own words: "It's important to me to feel that my vote counts....that I'm out here with everyone else."
1 comments:
i actually got in a yelling match with my family over this issue a few years ago. my liberal pinko gay-lovin massachusetts family! it was unreal.
way to go, NYCLU :)
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