America's Second-Class Citizens

  For many ex-cons life outside of prison will not be as fulfilling and purposeful as the likes of Alice Marie Johnson and Cyntoia Brown-Long who garnered national attention, came home to book deals and paid speaking engagements because of their time in prison. I'm not knocking them, God Bless them and I wish them well and all the success. 

  However, for the tens of thousands that's coming home from prison, life will not be so welcoming from society other than family and friends. Road block after road block will be waiting the day, they step foot outside those prison walls. Everything from decent employment, housing, voting rights and so much more will not be available because of their existing felony conviction. 

  In December of 2018 Congress passed the "First Step Act" and it was signed into law by President Trump. The law was intended to ease some of these restrictions that ex-cons face after release from prison on the federal level. The problem is that most states have not created similar laws to assist convicted felons on making a transition back into society. Until state legislators craft and sign into law their own criminal justice reform, recidivism rates will continue to go up and a nice size of our society will live as second-class citizens in America.

On February 26 the House passed the “Equality Act”, a bill aimed at protecting the rights and lives of those who are a part of the LGBTQ community. No one should be discriminated against because of their sexual orientation, rightfully so, this is an important bill, however, my issue with the bill is that it would have been a lot better if ex-cons or convicted felons was included in this bill, since the title of it is called “Equality Act”.

I understand that those who consider themselves LGBTQ face un-normal circumstances in this country, however, there is no one in America that’s more discriminated against then someone with a felony conviction on their record. Here is a list of opportunities that felons have no protections against;

• Voting (in some states)

• Traveling Abroad (varies by country)

• The right to bear arms

• Jury service

• Employment in certain fields

• Public social benefits and housing

The very existence of someone that’s been convicted of a felony is wiped out and this makes it hard for ex-cons and felons to exist in a society that they are rejected from. Things have to change if America wants a better society, and not picking groups of people whom they deem are worthy of living the American Dream and not others.

People in the LGBTQ community, should not only demand equal protection under the law simply for themselves, but also those whom they can identify with when it comes to discrimination and ill-treatment and that’s convicted felons. Once again there is no other person more discriminated against in America then ex-cons and convicted felons, facts.

Is Y'all Finished or Is Y'all Done?

The second impeachment of Donald Trump ended like the first, an acquittal. To no surprise, well at least for me and any sensible right minded person who understands politics. I will say that this one was a little different, 7 republicans joined all 50 democrats to convict Donald Trump for the January 6 insurrection on the Capital Building. The first impeachment voted down party lines with 1 republican joining the democrats to convict.

Now that this dog and pony show is over, can we get back to the business of the American people. I consider myself an independent, however I usually vote for democrats because I just don’t feel welcomed and wanted by the republican party as a black man in America. I know that the democrats have taken the black vote for granted for a very long time, and that’s a conversation for another day and topic. I spoke about this on my podcast “Corrected Felon Podcast”, and briefly on my twitter pin post (@inspiretheblock), however, since I voted for democrats this last election cycle I have to make my voice heard with the democratic party and my dissatisfaction known so far with their duties as an elected official. We don’t work for you, it’s the other way around in case you forgot.

When I voted for Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Jon Ossoff, Rev. Warnock and Nikema Williams (I’m a Atlanta resident), I never had impeachment in mind, not once did I think, “dems need to impeach Trump”. The black community was and still is my reason for voting for these people. Also the often repeated theme was “this is the most important election of our lifetime”. Oh how many times have I heard that, every election cycle. You asked for democratic control of Washington, we gave y’all that so that you wouldn’t have a problem pushing your agenda with republican blockage and opposition.

Right now we are still dealing with the pandemic, the closing of schools, unemployment, healthcare, a struggling economy, police brutality and many other issues facing our country. For weeks the democrats have played around with this impeachment and because of it, certain cabinet positions for the Biden administration are still not filled. Because of this wasted time and money of the American people from this stupid impeachment mess, we have a federal government not fully staffed. Did democrats really believe that the overwhelming majority of republicans were going to convict a man who, is pretty much the face and beloved figure of their party? I honesty believe they didn’t think it was possible, but they did this foolishness anyway.

Is ya’ll finished or is y’all done? (rapper Birdman linguistics).

It’s time to govern as the people elected members of congress and the White House to do. No more playing games with the American people. We need Covid relief, and for this pandemic to be over so that we can began to live normal again. Schools need to be reopened, safely, because our children are not advancing under this current structure of learning. We need jobs and criminal justice reform. Troops need to be brought home and vets properly cared for. The country faces a lot of challenges which require a lot of work from the positions that you all signed up for, willingly. Democrats wanted this opportunity to do the job that the last administration failed to do, according to democrats. We have given you this opportunity, now serve the American people by doing the job and work that we sent you to Washington D.C. to do. Save the political shenanigans, we’re over it, now get to work democrats, or face losing the house and senate in the midterms.

Sincerely, a dissatisfied democratic black voter.

Twitter @inspiretheblock

IG @inspiretheblock

Founder of middlepassagemedia.com

email cfraz17@middlepassagemedia.com

Freedom of speech isn’t freedom from consequences

Over the past weekend we have seen a massive purge with big tech companies and followers that used these social media apps, first starting with the President of the United States of America getting banned from pretty much every social media app out today. This all steam from the January 6, “Stop The Steal” rally in Washington D.C. where Trump supporters stormed the US Capital building demanding that congress members not certify the electoral college votes that made Joe Biden President-Elect and Kamala Harris Vice President-Elect.

The purge not only terminated Donald Trump’s social media accounts, but also thousands of Trump supporters accounts. Even the popular conservative social media app “Parler” was banned by Google, Amazon and Apple. This caused many to believe that this was an attack on their 1st amendment right to free speech.

Now I’m not a fan of cancel culture, and I’m in agreement with the hoodie (black owned clothing company @blackwomenslivesmatter, I’m not a paid sponsor by the way) that Charlamagne Tha God posted on IG on January 13 which read; cancel culture, but the cancel was crossed out and on top of it was counsel.

The fact that we live in a society that if we disagree with what someone said or an unproven accusation, can get you kicked off of the planet earth is corny.

However, when it comes to private own companies or speaking to someone in a very offensive manner, the 1st amendment no longer applies. let me explain. First let’s examine the 1st amendment.

In very first word of the 1st amendment is says, “Congress”. Not private own companies or individuals. So what does that mean? Yes every American citizen has the right to freedom of speech against the US government, but not against other citizens of this nation. Which means a person has the right to respond the way they think is necessary if you violate their policies and procedures that they deem harmful to their company. Or if you say something to someone in a derogatory or demeaning manner, they can respond in a manner they deem correct.

So when it comes to the 1st amendment, many like to misinterpret it and think that it applies to all spheres of life when it doesn’t. Like so many of us, including myself, we don’t read the “terms and conditions” of things we apply or sign up for, and when we violate them, we feel someone is infringing upon our 1st amendment right when that’s the furthest from the truth.

God gave all humans a “Will”, this is what separate us from animal and plant life. He also gave us intelligences to guide the will. However if we don’t use it correctly, we have deal with the consequences that follow. As a Blackman in America a racist person has a free will, and maybe a personal right to call me the N-Word, however, he/she has no right to tell me how to respond if I punch them in the mouth.

This is food for thought, now ya’ll do the dishes.