The New Jim Crow: Felon Disenfranchisement plus New State Laws Impede Franchise - 27:15
The New Jim Crow:
Purging the African American Vote by Felon Disenfranchisement
With
Jazz Hayden, Riverside Church Prison Ministry Campaign
To End The New Jim Crow
Today, nearly five million Americans are barred by law from voting at all
because of a felony conviction. (A felony is any crime that carries a
sentence of a year or more in prison.) More than 1 in 50 adults can't vote.
And because of the racial imbalance in the criminal justice system,
1.4 million black men are disenfranchised. That's 13 percent of the African-
American male population, a figure seven times the national average.
The laws vary from state to state. For example, in Maine, a convicted
murderer may vote while still in prison, but in Virginia, someone arrested for
selling drugs when he was 18 may never vote again. An American suffrage
movement-- voting rights for felons -- could make a considerable difference
in upcoming elections.
****************
Another Aspect of the New Jim Crow: Impeding the Franchise
With
Lee Roland, counsel with the Democracy Program's Voting Rights
and Elections Team at the Brennan Center for Justice
Ahead of the 2012 elections, there’s been a wave of state legislation tightening
restrictions on voting that has swept across the country. It's been estimated
that more than 5 million Americans could be affected by the new rules in place
this year – which is a number larger than the margin of victory in two of the last
3 presidential elections. Lee Roland counsel discusses this manifestation of
the new Jim Crow.
http://www.archive.org/download/TheNewJimCrowFelonDisenfranchisementPlusNewStateLawsImpede/votingntl.mp3 download
http://www.archive.org/stream/TheNewJimCrowFelonDisenfranchisementPlusNewStateLawsImpede play stream
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