Thank you for calling our attention to the panel at Edgewood
College last evening.
Seeing five panelists on stage who had spent many years in
Wisconsin prisons was a living image of the book many of us read, The New
Jim Crow. Four panelists were black men and one a white woman. All but one
was a member of EXPO (Ex Prisoners Organizing.) The evening was a dialogue with
students who had read the book and the five who had experienced the
deliberativeness of a system that keeps people of color out of civic life. When people are labeled as felons and/or
registered sex offenders for the rest of their lives, they are prohibited from
work as health professionals or federal employees. They cannot live in
federally subsidized housing. They may be tracked with an ankle bracelet or on
parole for many years. “The system is not broken,” a couple of the panelists
emphasized. The system separates black people and other people of color from
the rest of society in the same way that slavery and Jim Crow have in the past.
How can we join with ex prisoners, who know the system only
too well, to systemically change this racially biased system? That was the question that sends us to learn
more and join with others to undo racism.
My heartfelt thanks go out to the EXPO panel who so openly and honestly shared their experiences with the social/criminal justice system. Their sincerity in extending help to others who are struggling after incarceration is humbling. Each panelist is involved in a different way that supports those re-entering society. They are a true testament to endurance, tenacity and the will to change their lives for the positive development of themselves and others. A humbling experience, indeed, as well as an inspiration. Thank you, Ms. Joy A. E. Morgen
ReplyDeleteThanks for replying. Remember the intention of this page is that it is a dialogue. I hope others will begin leaving comments as well.
Delete