We have been trying to fight the cruel death penalty and its racial bias against blacks. One of the persons we shared material with and wrote to about the matter was Charles J. Chivis, the president of the Harrisburg chapter of the NAACP. In our letter to Mr. Chivis, we mentioned another area of our efforts; getting the vote restored to prisoners (who happen to be 67% minorities).
We were truly astonished by the tone of contempt in Mr. Chivis' answer to us. We surmise that it represents the contempt felt generally by the NAACP for voters (both black and white) and for prisoners (both black and white). Recently we have wondered why the once venerable and forceful organization has deserted its role as the voice of racial and political morality and why it has become the soiled tail being wagged by the amoral right-wing establishment. Mr. Chivis' kind letter gives us some valuable insight into what happened to the dignity and pride of the black community.
It's a great shame.
[Without even thanking us for the material we sent to him, Mr. Chivis of the NAACP writes:] "Of all the letters we receive from prisoners, no one has ever written to complain about not being able to vote. Chances are - like the rest of the population - 70 percent of them never voted when they had a chance.
"While the NAACP* has always supported voting rights, we will not join your effort to have voting rights restored to people who are serving sentences in our prisons. Since I was in eighth grade, I have known that if I was convicted of a crime, I would lose my right to vote.**
"However, there are many in prison who have not been convicted of a crime; they have been accused of a crime and are awaiting trial [in jail] because they could not make bail. If you are trying to promote their right to an absentee ballot, we are willing to support that effort.*** Too often, those accused of a crime and those convicted are painted with the same brush."
*Please notice that Mr. Chivis is not speaking for himself personally, but for "the NAACP" as an organization.
**Of course, this is not correct. Like many persons, Mr. Chivis is misinformed. Persons who are convicted of crimes, even felonies, don't lose their right to vote. It is only those (mostly minorities) who are imprisoned for felonies who lose their right to vote. It is the being in prison, not the being a convict which costs the individual his voting right.
***Again, Mr. Chivis, like many others, is misinformed. Pretrial detainees already have the right to an absentee ballot.
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