Karsceal Turner – I Go Next!
You perhaps thought this column was simply about sports but the joke’s on you. The scope of this column focuses on far more and here is just another taste of issues affecting you and me. Allow me to help bring it home for you. Some will relate, others won’t but know this…it could have easily been you in your younger, ignorant days.
Have you ever filled out a job application and cringed when you see that box to check asking if you’ve ever been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor? Well, I have. Hey, I didn’t always have this halo over my head, just know I am no longer the bad guy. I turned things around as I’m certain many of us have, (insert Lucius Gantt shout out here).
Certainly, I’m not the only person who has dealt with this issue, or know someone who has. The point is, we aren’t the same people we once were and everyone deserves a second chance. However, every time certain people, having paid their debt to society after committing “dumb-ignorant” acts in the past, fill out a job application they are forced to fill out a simple box which judges them based on the person they once were. If you’ve ever made a mistake, you know that’s pretty F- – – – – – d up.
Wednesday, the City Commission chambers at Daytona Beach City Hall was filled to capacity – standing room only – as a number of items on the agenda were given attention. Among the more notable items was the “Block the Box” initiative.
Attendees heard presentations from various citizens on the social and economic benefits of passing an anti-workplace discrimination policy known as “Ban the Box.’’
The measure would remove the question: “Have you ever been convicted of a felony?” from city job applications and allow all job seekers an equal opportunity during the interview process. Various versions of this legislation were passed in several Florida cities, including St. Petersburg and Tallahassee.
Passing the measure in Daytona would be a step toward statewide implementation.
One-by-one, citizens stepped up to have their voices heard. A large number of attendees sported “Ban the Box” tee shirts. Also in attendance were members of local clergy to include Derek Triplett of Hope Fellowship Church and Edison O. Jackson, President of Bethune-Cookman University, although the two did not speak on the initiative.
Also in attendance were various community organizations to include Boaz Lodge #212, where Donald Jordan is Worshipful Master (President).
One specific lodge brother, and B-CU and Yale University graduate, Mykal Tairu spoke fervently about the importance of the initiative.
Mykal Tairu exclaims “Let’s ban the box!”
The Yale Divinity School graduate detailed how the stigma of checking a box for mistakes one has overcome is paramount to genocide for members of the disparate populations, which include Blacks, Latinos, and other downtrodden Daytona Beach citizens.
“The National Society of St Vincent de Paul and the Catholic Campaign for Human Development have partnered to create the Vincentian Re-Entry Organizing Project. The goal of the project is to organize Catholics, formally incarcerated individuals, and other leaders to address some of the systemic issues that individuals face once they are released from correctional supervision,” Tairu said. “Employment is a key component of successful re-entry into society, and individuals with criminal records often have a hard time finding employment.”
Tairu serves as State Coordinator for the Vincentian Reentry Organizing Project, a partnership between the Catholic Campaign for Human Development and the National Society of St. Vincent de Paul.
“We have been organizing leaders in Daytona Beach to pursue an effort called “Ban the Box”. Ban the Box refers to an ordinance that eliminates that ‘box’ on initial city employment applications that inquires of one’s criminal past. The ordinance does not eliminate background checks, but postpones them to later in the hiring process,” Tairu said.
Various citizens followed Tairu’s lead and approached the podium to speak their minds on the initiative. Those citizens were former convicts, homeless people, and parents with masters and doctoral degrees pending. However, the common thread is, they all identified with the stigma of checking a box based on the person they once were.
“This is important because there are many people who are qualified for jobs but are immediately disqualified based on the stigma of a criminal record. Hundreds of thousands of individuals are returning home from jail/prison each year and it is important that we create more forgiving and restorative communities where all of God’s children have the opportunity to become productive citizens and contribute to society. Let’s ban the box!” Tairu concluded.
