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Giving Ex-Offenders, Families a Life Line
Senate should
pass Second
Chance Act
H. M okial
At a young age, T aneka Davis
knew ju st how hard life could be. At
ju st 15, she was throw n into acounty
jail in Pittsburgh am ongst hardened
adult crim inals after being arrested
for aggravated assault and reck­
less endangerm ent o f a bully who
had terrorized her for years.
Davis, now 19, spent much o f her
childhood living in uncertainty,
with her drug-addict parents re­
volving in and out o f prison on a
regular basis. It rendered her un­
able tocope with life. So, she sought
out the help o f the Pittsburgh Ur­
ban League to overcom e a tum ultu­
ous past and forge a new future.
Sharonda Pitteard. a 2 1 -year-old
single m o th e ro f tw o children from
Louisville, already had a felony theft
conviction under her belt when she
arrived on the doorstep o f her local
Urban League affiliate. Fellow Lou­
isville resident and single mother
A shley Burnley. IX, faced a misde-
by M arc
m eanorcharge for shoplifting when
she passed through the affiliate's
doors. Both w anted to get their
lives togetherto serve as better role
m odels for their children.
All three at one point in time
represented a class o f black youth
described by au ­
th o r H a rry J.
Holzer as discon­
nected in the N a­
tio n a l
U rb a n
L e a g u e ’s T h e
S tate o f B lack
America 2007.
"They may be
incarcerated or on parole or proba­
tion; they might be aging out o f
foster care oi still attached to their
nuclear families. But, overw helm ­
ingly, they com e from low -incom e
families and often grow up in poor
and relatively segregated neigh­
borhoods," H olzer wrote.
Now, they're all recent gradu­
ates of the National Urban League's
Urban Youth Em pow erm ent Pro­
gram that seeks to give at-risk youth
and ex-offenders a second chance.
While women are less likely than
men to becom e entangled in the
criminal justice system, they're more
likely to have left a child or more
behind upon incarceration. Sixty-
four percent o f fem ale inm ates
shared the same house with their
children before entering the justice
system, com pared to 44 percent o f
male inmates.
tance, skills training and on-the-
jo b experience. But, with more than
650,000 ex-offenders - nearly 50
percent of them black — re-entering
society every year, the program
barely m akes ad en t in the problem .
Fortunately, the U.S. House o f
efforts to help current and former
offenders to get a new lease on life.
The bill also establishes a fed­
eral re-entry task force and creates
a national clearinghouse o f infor­
mation on re-entry programs as well
as expands access to drug-treat­
ment facilities and im proves educa­
tional services offered. In the words
of a New York Tim es editorial, the
legislation would "provide crucial
help to people who have paid their
debts to society."
As for T aneka Davis, Sharonda
Pitteard and Ashley Burnley, so far
so good.
D avis enrolled in a crim inal ju s­
tice program at a local university in
Pittsburgh and landed a part-tim e
R epresentatives seem s to be see­ jo b at a m edical center, w here she
ing the logic o f greater federal in­ ended up w orking with the bully
vestm ent in such programs. In early she had assaulted years before in a
N ovem ber, the cham ber passed the fit of fear. Pitteard is out o f the drug
so -c a lle d S eco n d C h an ce A ct, treatment program, in her own apart­
w hich authorizes more money for ment and is in a post-secondary
The legislation would
“provide crucial help to
people who have paid their
debts to society. ”
To date, the em pow erm ent pro­
gram. one of the league's most suc­
cessful. has helped thousands o f
disconnected and re-entering indi­
viduals get second chances at a
better life with educational assis­
education program at a local tech­
nical college. Herclassmate Burnley
obtained her G E D a month after she
entered the em pow erm ent program
and is now pursuing her certifica­
tion in cosm etology with hopes o f
starting her ow n business one day.
All are exam ples o f the discon­
nected population who, under the
watchful eye o f Urban League af­
filiates, put them selves and often
their children, back on the right
track. T hat is why it is important
that our leaders pass the Second
C hance Act soon and keep up their
com m itm ent to giving at-risk youth
and ex-offenders a second chance,
if not for the sake o f current genera­
tions but o f future ones.
I urge the U.S. Senate to follow
the House's lead and pass the leg­
islation swiftly.
Marc H. Morial is president and
chief executive officer o f the Na­
tional Urban League.
T he C r é p ît crisîs spreads ,..
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the last past three decades.
Black women greatly outnum ber
men on college cam puses and in­
creasingly in the w orkforce. As our
w omen succeed, they are
p o is e d
to
becom e
to m o rro w ’s le ad e rs and
decision makers. The black
male voice will become more
and more obsolete.
O ur fam ilies, too, will
suffer. Education and in­
com e disparities will make it
difficult for black men and women
to relate to each other, causing rifts
and breaking up families. Perhaps
this one o f the reasons nearly 70
percent o f black children are cur­
Ji im ; e G r h ; M athis
R ecent reports indi­
cate African A m ericans
are, d esp ite the gains
m ade in the 1960s, falling
behind econom ically.
Sure, there are some of
us who have "m ade it;” it’s these
individuals, with their nice hom es
and cars that m any o f our young
people look up to. But. fo ra m ajor­
ity o f our people, the American
dream is too far ou, o f reach.
And for those o f us who do make
it to the m iddle class, there is no
guarantee that our success will
benefit our children. These trends
are disturbing and d o n 't seem as if
th ey 'll reverse any tim e soon. U n­
less we discuss the root causes of
this degeneration, we risk losing
hope and faith in ourselves.
Gone are the day s when unski I led
labor and industrial jo b s could
m ove a black family into the middle
class.
S ubstandard educational sys­ rently born to unm arried parents.
tem s, to which many o f us were and
A two-income, middle-class fam-
are subjected to. have not been ily d o esn 't guarantee the sam e fu­
able to provide students with the ture for black children. A study
skills and know ledge they need to revealed that only one in three black
com pete in m odern-day society. children from middle-incom e fami­
D ecent paying jo b s for unskilled lies grow up to have higher in­
w orkers are hard to com e by and com es than their parents.
O urs is the only ethnic group not
our com m unity is feeling the ef­
fects.
guaranteed to do better than the
Black men, in particular, are strug­ previous generation. Tw o thirds of
g lin g w ith th e c o u n try ’s new w hite children grow up to have
econom y. Incom es am ong black higher income than their parents.
men have actually decreased over Inequalities in schools and services
by
Call today for
estimate or
consultation
Email: shamaxhend@acninc.net
4134 N Vancouver Ave, Suite 400E, Portland, OR 97217
American Dream Too Far Out of Reach
offered in black neighborhoods are
partially responsible for the reason
our children d o n 't dare to dream
big.
Poor education systems, disin­
tegration o f the black fam ily, dis­
parities in services, econom ic deg ­
radation, discrimination in the work­
place, these are ju st a few o f the root
causes o f the econom ic decline that
threatens the health and stability o f
the black com m unity. M any, if not
all, o f these are rooted in slavery
and years o f oppression.
But we c a n 't let this stop us from
reaching our full potential as a
people. C ollectively, we should
understand that these barriers are
Black men, in particular, are
struggling with the country's
new economy. Incomes among
black men have actually
decreased over the last past
three decades.
here.
And we should work together to
figure out ways around them. They
should not becom e excuses.
We are a people used to struggle.
This is ju st another test o f our
strength. If we go into the battle
armed with know ledge, we will be
successful.
Judge Greg Mathis is national
vice president o f Rainbow PUSH
and a national board member o f
the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference.
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