I heard a very interesting topic on a local radio show the other day and I decided to call in.  I knew that facts would be missed and haters of a social agenda would skew the conversation.  I was right.  As with most call-in shows, the host will rarely give you adequate time to make your point; so I’ll do it here.

The formerly incarcerated individual who is returning to society after serving his/her time in prison is purposely and systematically iced out of society.  That was the topic of discussion.  It is a calculated effort to maintain a lower class and for the privileged class to maintain power and control.

Now, I may sound like a conspiracy theorist, but allow me to clarify my thesis.  First, let’s start with the Constitution.  The 13th Amendment states: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” What this clause does is legalize and legitimize slavery, pertaining to one who has committed a crime.  Those who held the power made distinctions, years after the writing of the Bill of Rights, between “classes” of crimes—misdemeanors and felonies—to isolate chosen classes according to their deeds.  The Bill of Rights did not do that.

So, when the “War On Drugs” was initiated, political classists wrote petty drug crimes and classified them as misdemeanors - when they were formerly felonies.  This act adversely affected Black Americans whose communities were flooded with cocaine in the 1980’s.  That’s why the recent custody incarceration rate for Black males was 4,618 per 100,000. Hispanic males were incarcerated at a rate of 1,747 per 100,000, where the estimated incarceration rate of white males was 773 per 100,000.  Blacks were six times more likely to be incarcerated.

When it comes to drugs, Blacks comprise 62.7 percent and whites 36.7 percent of all drug offenders admitted to state prisons; yet there are five times more white drug users than Black [drug users]. Relative to population, Black men are admitted to state prisons on drug charges at a rate that is 13.4 times greater than that of white men. In large part because of the extraordinary racial disparities in incarceration for drug offenses; Blacks are incarcerated for all offenses at 8.2 times the rate of whites. This is by design.  One in every 20 Black men over the age of 18 in the United States is in state or federal prison, compared to one in 180 white men.  This is no coincidence.

Although Blacks account for only 12% of the U.S. population, an estimated 38.9 percent of all prisoners in the United States are Black.  That means that when those prisoners are released, there will be a smaller number of Blacks who, on merit, compete with whites for employment opportunities, licenses, government contracts and political relationships.

But I digress, the issue of social isolation is the topic.  Federal law holds that once an ex-offender returns after completion of his/her sentence, he/she cannot be hired by a family member.  This method of employment is chief among immigrant classes in America.  Yet, the returning citizen is iced out of doing what is “American.”

Federal law also holds that a returning citizen cannot apply for, nor hold, professional licenses—including a barber’s or a real estate license.  Employment applications have long included a box that an applicant must check if he/she has been convicted of a crime, regardless of felony or misdemeanor. We, as a society, know that employers are reluctant to hire ex-offenders. Though it has long been known that there is a direct link between criminality and unemployment, few states have been proactive in remedying this short-circuit to successful re-entry. It does create more law enforcement jobs.  As of 2011, there are no federal laws prohibiting discrimination against ex-offenders; thereby legally keeping this class of citizens out of society’s loop.  Other minorities are part of a protected class.

I posit that a class-action suit should be filed claiming “protected class” status for re-entering citizens.  Some will argue “this is a condition you chose.”  I would retort that gays are a protected class with a difference that they weren’t “born” with—just like an ex-offender.  This systemic denial of opportunity to participate in American society is un-Constitutional.  The objective by the descendants of “white, male landowners” is to maintain economic superiority by limiting competition in areas of employment, contracts, education, and politics.

Leaving prison means competing with many others facing severely economically constricted job prospects as well as the general public. As the Urban League estimates, roughly 1,600 inmates are released every day to communities not eager to welcome them back. Six states bar ex-felons from public employment, and in many others, any kind of educational, legal, medical or real estate job is also out of the question. This systemic discrimination against returning citizens can literally mean a "wage tax" of 10 to 20% lower income, as compared to someone who has not been to prison, a Princeton University research paper suggests.

Just looking for work is a daunting task. Lack of a stable address is one problem, since many returning citizens initially live in halfway houses or with reluctant friends and relatives. Moreover, re-entry finds them scrambling to learn the basic skills, such as using e-mail or social media. That’s the chief means of applying for work nowadays.  Even when a returning citizen finds work, they will likely earn less and have trouble getting promoted because of their past conviction.

Back to my call to the show: An opponent of fair and equal opportunity said, “That’s the price of bad decision-making.”  My question is that if one has fulfilled his/her obligation as a consequence of a crime by serving the prescribed sentence (whether just or not), then when is the obligation sufficiently satisfied?  When is the debt fully paid?  Nowhere in the Bill of Rights does it state the term for debt repayment is lifelong.

My point here is: In this country that proudly boasts  to be a Christian and “chosen” nation, the time has come to make concerted attempts for her to practice what she preaches.  It is hypocritical to quote the law when it’s convenient, then ignore it when it’s inconvenient. 

For those of us returning after a stint in prison, you can call yourself a “returning citizen” until you’re blue in the face, but the reality is our society treats you as anything but.  We have the same needs as men and women returning from military service—simply because we both happen to be human under traumatizing conditions—yet this fact is blissfully ignored.  Many won’t and don’t like this reality, but this is a citizen’s truth in returning.

BlackCommentator.com Columnist, Perry Redd, is the former Executive Director of the workers rights advocacy, Sincere Seven, and author of the on-line commentary, “The Other Side of the Tracks.” He is host of the internet-based talk radio show, Socially Speaking in Washington, DC. Click here to contact Mr. Redd.