Ask, Listen, Act by Luz Vega-Marquis

Author:Luz Vega-Marquis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The New Press
Published: 2020-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Criminal justice and the right to vote: a case study in movement building

If you asked me to name the greatest success I have witnessed over the life of the foundation, I would find myself hard-pressed to choose. Over the years, I have seen dedicated organizers and committed family members work together to change policy and practice on a wide range of issues of importance to their communities, from immigration to wages to working conditions to environmental racism and more. But in recent years, the scope of change on the criminal justice front has been particularly striking, making it a valuable case study in how those most affected, however powerless they may seem as individuals, can transform entire systems by working together within a movement framework.

In California, MCF grantees were part of a statewide coalition that pushed through the groundbreaking Proposition 47, which reclassifies a number of low-level drug and property offenses from felonies to misdemeanors. Its passage in November of 2014 meant early release for thousands of prisoners, kept thousands more from going to prison in the first place, and cleared the way for as many as one million Californians to strike old felonies from their records, opening doors to jobs, public housing, financial aid, and other essential opportunities. Making Proposition 47 a reality required a grassroots mobilization on a scale that is rarely seen. Thousands of volunteers contacted more than three hundred thousand voters and held more than two hundred voter-mobilization events. In addition to making Proposition 47 law, these efforts also spurred the development of a rapidly growing, tightly connected corps of family leaders who have a personal stake in the most pressing issues facing California and the nation and are ready for the next battle, and the one after that.

Elsewhere in states where we fund, MCF grantees have worked together to secure progress on due process, reentry, alternatives to incarceration, conditions of confinement, and much more. In Louisiana, parents of incarcerated children banded together with other activists to challenge that state’s archaic and racially skewed juvenile justice system, securing reforms that culminated in a sweeping package of legislation in 2016. In San Francisco, formerly incarcerated activists launched a successful campaign to “Ban the Box,” passing legislation that keeps employers from using old convictions to screen out job candidates. This grassroots effort sparked a nationwide shift. In 2015, President Barack Obama banned the box on applications for federal jobs, and by 2016, twenty-five states and 150 cities passed similar laws.

Most recently, I have been tremendously inspired by the movement that emerged around Amendment 4 to the Florida constitution, which restores voting rights to those with felony convictions. The right to vote has long been viewed as one of the highest forms of legitimacy, inclusion, and power in U.S. democracy. But prior to the passage of Amendment 4 in late 2018, nearly 1.7 million Floridians—one out of every ten adult residents—were barred from voting because of felony convictions, regardless of degree.

I first learned of the effort to change this in 2012 when one of our grantees introduced me to Desmond Meade.

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