Question and Answer

Question: How do we as educated ex-offenders educate and instruct others, without appearing as if we are just trying to make our own lives easier? It seems advantageous, our motivation for policy change, so how do we make clear our goals and commitments to the reentering culture as a whole, without hiding our own past?

Answer: The nature of our democracy affirms the legitimacy of whatever efforts we put forth to improve our condition, as a segment of the population that is marginalized, locked out, and routinely denied access to the traditional pathways to success. We have to work to educate our less-educated peers about the legitimacy of our grievances, and our rights to petition for redress of those grievances. We have to raise the consciousness among our peers, and in our communities, so that they also embrace a greater sense of possibility. We've got to push education, sobriety, and recovery, too. We've got to talk about social justice. We've got to speak to the notion of our nation as a land of opportunity for everyone else around the world but not for us. We've got to drive home the truth that we are all in the same boat; we can never fully overcome the barriers we face as a group, individually.

It is not about hiding our past. It is about strategically managing information about our past. In most instances, it is sufficient to say, "I am a former offender," emphasizing "former." Just like black folks have co-opted the stigma of the "n-word," we can and must co-opt and defuse the sting of "former offender," "ex-con," or whatever terminology is used to weed us out for exclusion or marginalization. We never invest such terms with anything other than a sense of responsibility and accountability for our misbehavior. Neither do we allow those and like terms to intimidate us into acquiescing to a permanent underclass status.

We've just got to do the work, one day at a time, one person at a time. Study. Know the work done in reentry nationwide. Process and communicate the research. Apply the lessons learned through developing and implementing programs that the research suggests will and do work. Speak to the budgetary implications. Speak to public safety. Speak to quality of life in our communities. Speak to the impact on families, and particularly on the children of parents with criminal backgrounds.

Yes, we have every right to strive to make our own lives easier. That's an integral part of what we refer to as the American Dream. As citizens, we have as much right to the pursuit of happiness as any other citizen. We have as much right, too, to organize in our legitimate self interest. We have as much right, too, to stand up and say, "Hey! I need to eat, too. I need to take care of my family, too. I need to keep a decent roof over my head, too. My children need me to make it. On the world stage, my country needs me to contribute in the global competition for limited resources."

We have to reject the notion of rejection. Michelle Alexander, in the new and powerful book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, refers to the movement to remove entrenched institutional and societal barriers to successful prisoner reentry as the new civil rights movement. More than a civil rights issue, though, it is a human rights issue. We have to embrace our moral standing to stake our claim to greater opportunities. We deserve that. We have to know that we deserve it, and act accordingly.