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"8 minutes 46 seconds. CDs. Wrong House Sleeping at home. Kalief Browder. Trayvon Martin. Central Park Five. Malcolm and Martin. Emmett Till. Nat Turner. The captive Africans crammed into the bowels of a slave ship, who communicated through their tears, and committed suicide as an act of rebellion - I carry these ansestors in the roots of my soul. As a Black man, I was never taught how to survive in a land that has oppressed my soul. I feel foreign to the sole of my feet as I walked on soil that was never meant to nourish and grow me. I carry the weight of injustice, but also the initiative to implement change. Dr. King said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” This serves as the blueprint for the work I do today."

Voting became an important issue for me while I was incarcerated at a California State Prison. It became clear to me that the system, which chose to treat me inhumanely and like I was disposable, acquired the power to do so by the public vote. I learned felony disenfranchisement had been a form of voter suppression aimed at black and brown people for over 100 years. Today, I continuously pose the question to myself and others: “If my vote has no power, why have they made it so difficult for me and people like me to exercise our right to vote?”

I was released from prison in September 2020 after 22 long hard years of incarceration. I went into prison as a 19-year-old young man and returned to the community as a 41-year-old grown man. While in that mad house that is prison, which is full of anger, rage, and negativity, I emerged as a new person with new thinking. While in prison I used my time to engage in self-reflection, education, and hard work, with a focus on being a more productive human being. In that very dark and lonely jail cell, I discovered my untapped talents and purpose. I discovered that I wanted to write and be a public speaker. I want to share my story of struggle, oppression and redemption with people so the lessons of my life can inspire others to be their best selves.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. believed in people. He acknowledged the divisions that kept us apart and harmed our national character but had confidence that each one of us sought greater unity and equality. He recognized that racism and inequality can never be accepted. We must meet intolerance with education and action to come to a solution. My hope is that we are able to abandon our focus on the comforts of personal prosperity, and instead embrace fidelity to social justice and equality for all. When a life has suffered injustice at the hands of another, no person goes untouched by the repercussions -- Given recent events, we see that now more than ever.

"I remember seeing Dr. King’s mural at the Compton courthouse after attending a probation meeting to tell folks about CEO. I remember feeling how important that conversation was because most of our colleagues were coming from South Los Angeles. I remember being in a room with mostly Black people, building relationships that would have a lasting impact. Planting a seed in the community to make a difference. To literally change lives. I am reminded of the countless Black and Brown kids that came in with their parents to our office, seeing their mother or father engaged in conversation with us. I carry that memory as a symbol for anything I do here at this organization: it must be rooted in anti-racism."

According to the Sentencing Project, 5.1 million people with felony convictions are unable to vote in the 2020 election. Felony disenfranchisement is among the over 45,000 collateral consequences faced by the estimated 19 million people with felony convictions. In response, CEO launched our first-ever voter registration drive focused on helping our participants and others with a felony conviction to exercise their right to vote this cycle. The non-partisan effort, a partnership with Vote.org and Spread the Vote, includes the creation of a voter resource page on our website that allowed voters to check their registration, register to vote and access other information on voting.

The impact of COVID-19 on the health and economic stability of every American is unprecedented, and justice-impacted people are among those most affected, particularly in low-income communities of color from which so many currently incarcerated people come. As our state continues to respond, CEO is active in the community offering employment and training to those returning home from incarceration. Through CEO’s transitional jobs program, participants have been on the front lines providing essential work to their communities.

Breonna Taylor was murdered by the police in her own home, and last week we learned that no police officers will be held criminally responsible. Attorney General Cameron presented limited charges and the grand jury only indicted one officer for wanton endangerment, alleging only that he shot blindly into a neighbor’s home during the raid. This is not only a failure of police officers to do their jobs effectively– it is a failure of the very institutions and laws that are supposed to keep community members safe.

Recently, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2147. The bill, sponsored by Assemblymember Eloise Reyes (D-San Bernardino), provides a pathway for inmate firefighters to petition the courts to have their records expunged. CEO participant Victor Canales was released in 2019 before the law was changed. While not a direct beneficiary of the recent change, his story highlights the difficult path that inmate firefighters have to take to pursue a career in firefighting after release. While Victor is still working on his career path, his story offers inspiration for others.

Policing in the United States has been under increased scrutiny and calls for reform in the wake of the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and more recently, the shootings of Jacob Blake and Trayford Pellerin. These all-too-familiar tragedies serve as direct evidence as to why public trust in policing has declined, especially in low-income communities of color that bear the brunt of these practices.

The Center for Employment Opportunities applauds the introduction of the Jobs for Economic Recovery Act by Senators Baldwin, Wyden, Bennet, Booker, and Van Hollen. If passed by Congress, the measure would provide jobs to unemployed and underemployed individuals, including those returning home from incarceration facing multiple barriers to work in an economy severely affected by COVID-19.

The Center for Employment Opportunities stands in outrage over the murder of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and the countless other Black men and women who’ve lost their lives to police brutality and racial violence. We strongly affirm Black Lives Matter. Our nation cannot move forward until our institutions and leaders come to terms with the fact that racism is a defining characteristic of our justice system.