Acknowledgment and Acceptance

I have had this dream for a very long time to make an impact in the community and facilitate felons with resources that will help in their endeavors to assimilate themselves back into society. Society, can be very unforgiving towards some and extremely shortsighted with most. We have a tendency to forgive and forget when the opportunity best suits us. Truth of the matter is that there are plenty of people out there committing heinous crimes of injustice and indifference towards the population as a whole simply to target a few.

Example: Once you become a convicted felon you lose certain Constitutional rights as a citizen of the United States. You can't vote. You can't bear arms. Whatever happened to

No taxation, without representation!

We are expected to overcome copious amounts of oppression to get a job and pay taxes like everyone else, yet we have no voice over how our money is spent. Because of a conviction for any felony charge whether violent or not, we lose a right that  prevents us from further protecting our families and homes because we lose the right to own a gun.

What's worse is that they target drug charges so pointedly that it cripples the ability of many to survive. If you are receiving federal aid at the time of getting a drug charge that you are eventually convicted of, you lose your eligibility to receive any further federal aid. Here in Georgia, a drug conviction regardless of the circumstance is grounds for an automatic suspension of your driver's license. A drug conviction precludes you from receiving food stamps, welfare, and medicaid. We are proverbially pushed out the door and left to fend for ourselves. Our health and well-being is not important to anyone.

My goal is to create a program that helps all convicts in their endeavors to be treated with equality. Its time to push for changes in legislation. Obama has declared that every American citizen shall have some form of health coverage by the end of the month. There are many people out there struggling to find a job and could really use medicaid for its intended purpose, yet will not have access to it.

There is no denying that prejudices abound at every turn in this country. I don't intend to focus on what is or was though. I intend to focus on the future; what will be. We have to make our present and future what WE want it to be. The point is to not shy away from the truths of our current society, but point them out and have everyone learn how to navigate through it in order to achieve our goals. I believe one of the worst mistakes we can make in this life is to pretend like something doesn't exist. You don't have to be controlled by it, but you definitely have to be cognizant. Acknowledgment and acceptance are two different things:

I can see them, but they can't see me.