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At the 2009 Annual Brennan Legacy Awards, Emmy Award-winning actor Alan Alda, read from a few of the stories featured in My First Vote -- a compilation of stories from people across the country who voted for the first time in November 2008 after having lost, and then regained, their right to vote following a criminal conviction.
More information on our work to restore voting right to people with criminal histories.
Watch below (approximately 6 minutes).
Monday marked the passing of a great partner in our work to restore voting rights to people who have come out of the criminal justice system. Jack Kemp, star football player, prominent Congressman, Cabinet Secretary and leader in the Republican Party, passed away Saturday night at the age of 73.
A self-described “bleeding-heart conservative,” Secretary Kemp dedicated much of his political career to fighting racial discrimination. His concern for racial justice and his deep religious beliefs made him an outspoken proponent for reforming felony disenfranchisement laws.
Cross-posted from the Huffington Post.
The Washington Post printed a story this week about the Poverty Forum, "an unusual coalition of Christian leaders and policy experts from across the ideological spectrum" that is working together to advance a series of anti-poverty initiatives. The Forum plans to present its recommendations to the Obama administration next week; included among these is passage of legislation that would restore federal voting rights to persons disenfranchised on account of criminal convictions.
The strange bedfellows aspect of the collaboration—Former President George W. Bush's speechwriter Michael Gerson called it "an orgy of strange bedfellows"—provides an irresistible media hook, but such collaborations among devoted Christians shouldn't be all that surprising. Make no mistake, I'm thrilled at the existence of such an alliance. But given Jesus' own teachings about our obligations to the less fortunate and instructions as to how best to treat our enemies, I cannot help but be disappointed that such alliances are newsworthy.
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