We examine how past criminal convictions bar many Americans from voting in Tennessee, one of the hardest states to regain the right to vote after serving time behind bars.
Host Lawrence Bartley sits down with Topeka Sam, a formerly incarcerated entrepreneur who works to support people who are released from prison, about her journey, lessons she’s learned and her efforts to build financial literacy in the community.
In an animated essay, Ravi Shankar explains why nothing has made him feel more American than going to jail.
And finally, voting doesn’t just occur in the free world, as Bartley explains in his closing message, recalling a time when he ran his own campaign on the inside to serve on a committee charged with improving conditions in the prison where he was incarcerated.
Reading List:
- Nothing Has Made Me Feel More American Than Going to Jail
- Tennessee’s Voter Restoration Gauntlet
- How Mississippi’s Jim Crow Laws Still Haunt Black Voters Today
- Mississippi Felony Voting Ban Will Remain This November
CONTRIBUTORS
Simone Perez, Alexis Johnson, Nicole Lewis, Devin Greenleaf, Raghuram Vadarevu, Rochelle Widdowson, Ravi Shankar, Akiba Solomon, Grace Shin