As a member of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, a grass-roots organization dedicated to progress in Kentucky, I was thrilled to go over to disadvantaged neighborhoods in the West Side last semester to register voters. I felt like I was continuing the vision and dream of Dr. King, registering new voters left behind by the system just like his group, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, did 40 years ago. Yet often times, we ran into a wall. While my friends and I didn’t face the violent reprisals that community organizers faced back then, the system still blocked us from registering the voters whose voices so urgently need to be heard. Time and time again, I would knock on doors, encouraging people to register to vote, and time and time again I would get the same hurt or angry expression followed by, “I can’t.”

Forty-three years after the Voting Rights Act of 1965 passed, abolishing the Southern laws explicitly designed to prevent blacks from voting, one of these laws still remains in Kentucky.

According to the Kentucky Constitution, felons are banned from voting for life unless they apply directly for a partial pardon from the governor. This archaic, 19th century rule currently prevents a quarter of African-Americans from voting in Kentucky; the highest rate of African-American voter disenfranchisement in the country, according to a study released by the League of Women Voters. While many Southern states had such statutes on the books, many of them have moved forward. Kentucky is now one of only two states that continues to enforce such statutes (the other being the capital of the Confederacy, Virginia.)

While on its face this statue seems blind to issues of color and class, in reality, most rich and white criminals can afford to hire attorneys that get their felony charges reduced or dropped altogether. I have certainly seen the different treatment for some of my classmates from my private high school compared with those in my public college. Someone very wise once wrote “Cash rules everything around me.” The statistics don’t lie – this statute inordinately affects our poorer, darker skinned neighbors compared to the rest of the population.

I know that my home state is not the second most backward state in this country. I know the people of this commonwealth don’t want to hang onto the skeletons in our closet. Yet it seems that our politicians don’t feel the same way. That’s why I encourage everyone to write letters to your representatives urging them to support HB 70, a bill that would restore voting rights automatically to all felons, except murderers and sex offenders, as soon as they pay their debt to society. Many people make mistakes, it’s true. They deserve to be punished for those mistakes. Yet I think we can all agree that those mistakes shouldn’t follow an individual for the rest of their life especially when it comes to an activity as vital to our society as voting.

If you’re interested in becoming active on this issue, I can be found in Java City in Helm Library every Friday from now until the end of the General Session sometime in March from 2 – 4 p.m.

This commentary doesn’t represent the views of the Herald or the University.