Racine Sun

Individuals from all walks recently convened at the capitol building for Empathy and Action Day.

Activists from Ex-Incarcerated People Organizing (EXPO) and local lawmakers were all on hand for an event where activists learned about approaching elected officials about issues of incarceration in the state, the Racine County Eye reported. The event came at a time when GOP elected officials are pushing hard-line policies that many contend will only worsen mass incarceration in the state.

Following a Christmas parade tragedy in Waukesha last year where a Milwaukee man was arrested and charged with driving a van through the parade killing and wounding dozens of people and making the state home to the highest incarceration rate for African American adults in the country (one out of every 36 residing in state prison), calls have grown from republicans to create a stricter cash bail system.

While republican lawmakers have already moved to craft a constitutional amendment, it will eventually go to voters in a referendum. During their meeting with legislators one after another EXPO legislators pointed to what they see as the hypocrisy in that, given many incarcerated or formerly incarcerated people will be left out of that vote due to their records.

“Voting is our most fundamental right in this country,” Rep. Jodi Emerson told the Racine County Eye. “And to think of people who are out of the system, out of prison for years and years and years, not being able to vote for whose setting curriculum for [their] kid’s school. Not being able to vote on the city council people and whether their sidewalk gets redone or not. So we’ve really tried to shift this narrative about making sure that people who are out and on papers have the right to vote. There’s some states that don’t ever take your voting rights away. I think that that’s an intriguing thing that we need to start talking about in this state.”

EXPO prison outreach coordinator Ramiah Whiteside, who spent decades at different levels of the state penal system, stresses he will be unable to cast a ballot for the next two decades.

“However, for going on three years now, I’ve paid taxes,” Whiteside said. “And I’ll continue to pay taxes because that’s what you do when you want to invest in our republic. However, who represents me?”

Sylvester Jackson, a formerly incarcerated organizer with EXPO, views things much the same way. He coached the group on Empathy and Action Day on how to reach out to legislators and encourage them to empathize with others.

“Every time in this country, especially in this state, where a person of an ethnic, African American culture, commits a crime, the impact of it goes far beyond where it needs to be if it’s in a white community,” he said. “All of this is cloaked in the racism of this country. To either suppress, or oppress or stop the growth of people who are not considered white Caucasians.”