Arrested, Jailed, and Charged With a Felony. For Voting. —North Carolina

[Fugazy]

Som body who lies under oath....I think....

Perjurer? Perjury?

Idk how to spell it.

Kind of depends on the severity of the issue. If they lied about being high and were punished I mean whetever.

If they lied about helping cover up a murder, well fuck no.

 

[King in the North]

If it's a class issue then why do you keep just saying black men? Why not just say locking up young men instead of "young black men"? Are poor young black men committing more crimes than poor young men of other races?

Because every urban area in America has a section of the city that is poor and black. Poor white people are affected too, but not at the same rate. We can say “young men” instead, it’s still accurate.

It just affects young black men in the worst way. Black children grow up in poverty at higher rates than other children. Hence it all being intertwined.

(Certain crimes affect women not men, like prostitutes get arrested all the time for solicitation, but their pimps don’t)

 

[King in the North]

These are literally convicted prisoners late in their sentence, yet you read their word as the gospel. I'm more inclined to believe the Standard Operating Procedure is correct and they were likely told than the words of convicted criminals, but to each their own.

But why on earth would they risk this to cast a vote? Did all 400 get together and decide they could try and swing the election?

That’s a pretty far stretch. Way more likely they just didn’t read a form and this information wasn’t properly communicated to them in any other way.

 

[King in the North]

There is no racial element to this story. The basis for charging them was they voted despite being convicted felons.

Just a coincidence all of them were black in a state with a very dark history of suppressing black vote? Don’t you think you’re being a bit obtuse?

The law they are charged with violating is itself an issue of race. It really isn’t that hard to believe a republican state legislature passed a law that disproportionately affects black people to either; (1) discourage or intimidate them from voting, or (2) prosecuting them for doing so without a required mental state. You can literally go to prison for being negligent and casting one vote.


People should follow the law but the law should be reasonable.

 

[King in the North]

Maybe the same reason why they thought they could get away with criminal activity? They probably aren't the brightest bunch and thought no big deal or they wouldn't get caught, because again, they're criminals.

I find that much more likely than saying there's a grand conspiracy to Target convicted felons who voted by not telling them and hiding forms that you must sign to actually vote. (Or if they didn't read the form, again, their fault).

Yeah, they probably aren’t the brightest bunch. Again, not that hard to believe they didn’t read something before signing it.

Not reading a form isn’t culpable behavior to me. Certainly not deserving prison time. But the law is written in a way that says it is, which again, just feels wrong to me. If they actually set out to game the system, then I’m with you. I think that should be a requirement for such a severe punishment.

It isn’t a conspiracy that republican lawmakers at the state level attempt to suppress the black vote. It’s not unlike some of the more harsh voter ID laws. Passing laws like this will discourage black people from voting. But don’t take my word for it:

 

[Philo-Publius]

Just a coincidence all of them were black in a state with a very dark history of suppressing black vote? Don’t you think you’re being a bit obtuse?

Nope.

 

[King in the North]

Nope.

 

[bushman505]

i got sat down beforehand and got the mom card pulled on me and im a mamas boy but man, when she started bitching about Trump winning i barely contained myself

Sounds like my mom....everybody is in the right except me.

 

[bushman505]

Perjurer? Perjury?

Idk how to spell it.

Kind of depends on the severity of the issue. If they lied about being high and were punished I mean whetever.

If they lied about helping cover up a murder, well fuck no.

While I guess both of those would count, I’m
Talking about more like people lying to cover up more serious crimes.

 

[ObamaPhoneLady]

The article doesn’t provide any information of the 441 mentioned people,other than the 12 mentioned, all African-American, because only one county in the state is pressing charges.

That county is Alamance county:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alamance_County,_North_Carolina

19% African-American.

I think the “racial edge” is that these laws disproportionately impact African-Americans. So much that one could argue the purpose of them is to prevent or discourage African-American voting.

All laws disproportionate affect African Americans because African Americans disproportionately commit crimes.

 

[King in the North]

All laws disproportionate affect African Americans because African Americans disproportionately commit crimes.

So you think black people are just born with a desire to commit crimes or what?

Sentencing is a huge issue too. White men generally receive drastically less time than black men for the same crimes:

https://www.ussc.gov/sites/default/...h-publications/2017/20171114_Demographics.pdf


https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wa...act-same-crime-as-a-white-person-study-finds/

 

[Trotsky]

I mean I am not a big fan of that law, but even more ridiculous is that someone would risk prison time to sneak a vote. Can't sympathize with stupid.

Yeah, exercising their constitutional right to vote for the government representing them is not important. Can't believe someone would care enough about that to risk their freedom.

 

[ObamaPhoneLady]

So you think black people are just born with a desire to commit crimes or what?

No, Cathy. What I'm saying is laws tend to disproportionately affect criminals.

 

[BudKing8806]

Yeah, exercising their constitutional right to vote for the government representing them is not important. Can't believe someone would care enough about that to risk their freedom.

Maybe they should have cared enough about that before committing a felony.

 

[King in the North]

No, Cathy. What I'm saying is laws tend to disproportionately affect criminals.

I think sentencing discrepancy is a clue that it’s not so black and white (no pun intended).

Lawmakers obviously have some influence as to who are criminals by writing criminal statutes. They’ve set the bar pretty low on the statute in question, and given the history of voter suppression in North Carolina, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Somehow all of this got sidetracked into a conversation about systematic racism on my part. My apologies to go off on a tangent.

 

[Trotsky]

Maybe they should have cared enough about that before committing a felony.

Oh, you're right. I'd never thought of that before.

I think we should strip persons convicted of felonies of all human rights. Especially since, as we know, the justice system always gets it right and all convicts were guilty. We already don't let them vote or have personal protection: I think we should also disregard their due process rights and start torturing them for entertainment.

 

[BudKing8806]

Oh, you're right. I'd never thought of that before.

I think we should strip persons convicted of felonies of all human rights. Especially since, as we know, the justice system always gets it right and all convicts were guilty. We already don't let them vote or have personal protection: I think we should also disregard their due process rights and start torturing them for entertainment.

 

[oldshadow]

It the law so don't break it.

We can talk about getting some lost rights back after they serve all their time including parole.

Most states have way of doing that but are too hard to get done. We can fix that.

 

[Headkicktoleg]

No, there should be no long term reprocussions for being a convicted felon.

They are still on probation, once it's over they can vote again. Probation is still part of the sentence

 

[bushman505]

I’m ok with felons not voting. That’s the law. If it it gets changed fine but I’ll Make no effort to get laws changed for this.