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If you have been impacted by the criminal justice system, what are your rights? How do they differ by state? A session that provides you with all of the information you need now to reclaim and unlock your vote.
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00:00It is time for Unlocking the Vote for People Who Are Justice Impacted.
00:05If you've been impacted by the criminal justice system, what are your rights?
00:09Next up, we are Unlocking the Vote for People Who Are Justice Impacted.
00:14Please welcome to the Global Black Economic Forum stage,
00:18Dr. Topeka Sam, founder and CEO and visionary, Topeka K. Sam Ventures.
00:25Also, national consultant, voter justice project, Desmond Mead.
00:31CEO of the Clean Slate Initiative, Sheena Mead.
00:35And author, advocate, and motivational speaker, Dr. Angela C. Wright.
00:40Please give them a warm welcome.
00:47Good afternoon, everyone.
00:50Thank you so much for joining us here this afternoon.
00:57Thank you so much for joining us this afternoon at the Global Black Economic Forum for Unlocking the Vote for
01:03Justice Impacted People.
01:05How many people in the room, by a show of hands, are justice impacted?
01:13What I mean by justice impacted are people who have been impacted by the criminal legal system.
01:18So whether yourself have been incarcerated, or you have a loved one who has been incarcerated,
01:23or you even know someone or work in the system, that's why we say justice impacted.
01:27And our voting rights matter.
01:30More often than not, people think that because you have a conviction that you cannot vote,
01:34and that is far from the truth.
01:37And so today I'm joined on the stage with these lovely experts who will help and explain the things that
01:44we need to know
01:45as it relates to having our rights restored,
01:48talking about some of the barriers that we've faced being incarcerated,
01:53and what we had to do either to get our rights back,
01:55and or what we need to do in order to engage in the civic process.
02:00So I would like each of my speakers to please share a little bit about yourself and your journey.
02:06I say a little because we don't have a lot of time, and all of us love to speak.
02:11So I'll start with Dr. Wright.
02:14Good afternoon, everybody.
02:16I am Dr. Angela C. Wright, and I am formerly incarcerated.
02:19I served 14 years in federal prison as a first-time nonviolent offender.
02:24However, that did not deter what my life is based to be, right?
02:29So anything that you have been through does not stop you from where you're going or your destiny.
02:34Right now, today, I do help justice-impacted people.
02:38I help young people as well to overcome barriers.
02:41I am the delusional queen, right?
02:44I believe that anything is possible with God, and I walk that out every day.
02:48And she does.
02:49That's right.
02:52And Dr. Sheena Mead.
02:54Yes.
02:55Good afternoon, everyone.
02:57I'm Dr. Sheena Mead.
02:58I lead the Clean Slate Initiative.
03:00We're a national organization that focuses on automatically clearing people records.
03:05So in the United States, there's one out of three people that have an arrest or conviction on their record.
03:10That's 70 to 100 million people that have been impacted by the system.
03:13But over 30 million people are eligible to get the record cleared.
03:16And there's a lot of barriers to doing that.
03:18So we've been successful in passing legislation in 14 states and D.C.
03:23allowing 18 million people to second chances.
03:25And so really excited to talk about that.
03:27And I'm also just as impacted as well.
03:30Thank you, Dr. Sheena Mead.
03:31And Dr. Desmond Mead.
03:34Good afternoon, everyone.
03:35My name is Desmond Mead.
03:36Most famously, the husband of Dr. Sheena Mead.
03:39I am formerly incarcerated, formerly homeless individual that lived in Florida and who's managed to just turn my life around
03:47and attain a few degrees and a law degree,
03:51as well as lead a movement in the state of Florida to re-enfranchise or restore voting rights to over
03:571.4 million people who had previously been convicted of a felony offense.
04:02And so my work has been to empower those people that have been impacted by the justice system and unlock
04:09potential in our communities through empowering them.
04:13Now, when I say Dr. Mead, see, there's two Dr. Meads up here.
04:17But I just want to underscore, and I think it's important for everyone to hear, all four of us are
04:22Dr. and our last name.
04:24And all four of us are justice impacted.
04:25So that's something also to show, right, that because we've been justice impacted, formerly incarcerated, that, as Dr. Wright said,
04:34that there's nothing that we can do or can't do.
04:37But for the sake of this particular conversation, we're talking about voting and unlocking the vote.
04:43Just to give a little bit about my own personal experience, when I came home from prison in 2015 and
04:48I was put on federal supervision,
04:51I was told by my probation officer that I could not vote.
04:54And at the time, I believe it was President Obama was running, and I wanted to be able to vote.
05:00And so I was doing my research, and I was told that I could actually vote because I was being
05:05released from federal prison,
05:07and New York's state laws were a little bit different.
05:10And so I went back, and I asked the chief probation officer, and I went to their website for the
05:16U.S. District, Southern District of New York,
05:18and it actually stated on their website that I could vote.
05:22And I was so upset because I said, well, wait a minute.
05:25People are going to your probation officer to get this information, but yet still the information that's being provided is
05:32untrue.
05:32And how many people now can't vote or don't vote because they just think that they can't, right?
05:38So I'll start with Desmond and then work my way down.
05:42Dr. Meade, what would you say when you were doing your campaign on voters' re-enfranchisement in Florida?
05:51What's the most difficult thing?
05:53And also, what was the most passionate place that when you were able to have victory in Florida that you've
05:59seen?
06:00Well, most difficult was actually convincing people that they had the right to vote, you know,
06:06and then the importance of the vote.
06:07And what I found was that there was a lot of people that were saying, oh, I don't have time
06:11for that.
06:11My vote don't matter.
06:13Or I can't vote, whatever.
06:14But when we pressed a little deeper, what we found was that people who were apathetic to voting
06:21or who was against it or talking bad about voting were people who thought they couldn't vote to begin with.
06:26However, when they found out that they could, then that changed the whole dynamic,
06:30which leads to the most passionate experience I've had was a lady who was actually given, like, less than six
06:38months to live.
06:39And her dying wish was actually to be able to get the vote in the 2020 election.
06:45And unfortunately, she passed before she had that opportunity.
06:49But that moment had impacted me because she could have wanted anything else in life, right?
06:54But to think that her dying wish was just to get to feel what it felt like to be a
06:59part of something that was bigger than her.
07:01Thank you so much for sharing that.
07:03And Dr. Sheena Mead, in your work with the Clean Slate Initiative,
07:08what do you find are some of the barriers that people face because of their criminal convictions,
07:12but also why voting is important as it relates to this process and specifically around Clean Slate and the work
07:20that you do?
07:20Yes.
07:21So the work at the Clean Slate Initiative, you know, when we get people's record clear,
07:25it doesn't necessarily automatically, like, trigger them being eligible to vote.
07:29And sometimes people get that confused.
07:31In a lot of states, people never lose the right to vote.
07:33And so that's the thing we need to continue to educate people about.
07:36Can you say more about that?
07:37Yeah, so, well, Desmond, actually.
07:40Now I've got to pass it back to Desmond.
07:41I've got to reclaim my time.
07:42But go ahead.
07:43Desmond could kick in here.
07:46That's why we work good together.
07:49There are two states in which you never lose your right to vote back.
07:53And every state has some kind of hodgepodge.
07:56There's a hodgepodge of rules that guide this.
07:59But for the most part, the majority of the states in the country would restore voting rights
08:04back immediately after a person has completed their sentence or off probation.
08:09In the state of New York, for example, if you're not incarcerated, you have the right to vote.
08:14And Michigan is like that, too, as well.
08:16And Vermont, I think.
08:17Vermont, yes.
08:18And so now nationally, there are over 9 million people like us who think they cannot vote
08:26that are not registered to vote because, you know, just lack of information.
08:30Thank you, Dr. Sheena Mead.
08:31Yeah, so right now, people who have an arrest or conviction, there's over 44,000 collateral
08:38consequences, barriers for people to be able to move on.
08:41It could be an occupational barrier.
08:43I remember, like, Oklahoma a few years ago, a woman that got released from prison who was
08:47doing hair while she was incarcerated came home to get a job as a hair washer.
08:51And she could not do that.
08:53She was restricted because you have to have an occupational license to wash hair during
08:57that time.
08:58Could you imagine?
08:59And so, yeah, so one of the things is when I was working on a campaign with Desmond, he
09:04was my boss at one time, y'all.
09:06Pray for me.
09:07But he was my boss at one time in the household and outside the household.
09:11But during that time, he would go out and try to get people, you know, energized about
09:16registering to vote or about the initiative.
09:19And folks would say, yeah, I know, I care about vote, and I know that's important, but I can't
09:22get housing, I can't get a job, and I can't get my education.
09:26And I need to be able to feed my children.
09:28And that always stuck with me.
09:29So when I started doing the work of Clean Slate, that's what stuck with me.
09:32And I used to tell folks, in order to change those policies that bar you from getting education,
09:39access to housing, you've got to be able to let your voice be heard in a voting box.
09:42And so does how that correlate?
09:44If we want to change policy, we've got to be able to create power by making sure that
09:47we're voting.
09:48A hundred percent.
09:49Dr. Wright, we talked a little bit about that, about some of the barriers and things
09:53that you have faced when you came home and why you do the work that you do and why it
09:58is so important for people to know their voting rights and that they do vote.
10:01Can you share more about that?
10:02Yes.
10:03So in Georgia, you're able to vote once you have served your sentence, including your
10:08probation.
10:08You have to be offered probation, right?
10:10So as Dr. Sam was saying, her probation officer told her that she could not vote.
10:16Let me tell y'all something.
10:17People will always tell you what you cannot do.
10:20No one runs to tell you what you can do.
10:22So in order for us to unlock the vote, first we have to unlock the power within.
10:27And what is that power?
10:29Not being scared because somebody said that you cannot do nothing.
10:32So my probation officer, the barrier was I was offered a job, coming first home.
10:37It was $55,000 a year.
10:39This was 2021.
10:41He told me I couldn't take the job because it required me to be around other felons.
10:45The job he wanted me to take was in a warehouse, which I would still be around other felons.
10:50So instead of me listening to him, I asked him, how do I get you back in front of the
10:55judge?
10:55He like, oh, is that something you want to do?
10:57I absolutely want to do it because if I don't stand and fight, then everybody else behind
11:02me continue to fall.
11:03So I took him back to court and I explained to the judge why I felt like I should take
11:08the job.
11:08Needless to say, I got the job, but it was because I was not scared to go against the
11:13system.
11:15You have to be willing.
11:16And as Dr. Meade was saying, like people tell you that you can't do something or you
11:21don't know.
11:21If you don't try to find out, you will never know because nobody's going to tell you.
11:25So the most important thing about barriers is continue to fight.
11:30Y'all, our forefathers didn't get down in that dirt for us just to sit around and listen
11:33to what somebody tell us we cannot do.
11:35That's right.
11:36That's right.
11:37And that's where the advocacy piece comes in.
11:39And that's why it's so important not only for us to advocate for ourselves, but all of
11:43us, we advocate for our people.
11:45Because if we don't vote, then our judges, our prosecutors, people who are running our school
11:53districts, they will have control and continue to have control and not do what's beneficial
11:58for our communities and our people.
12:00And so from any of you, just thinking about that piece specifically, when you were able,
12:07if, well, one, is everyone here now able to vote?
12:10Yes.
12:11Yes.
12:11Yes.
12:12Okay.
12:12So that's a beautiful thing, right?
12:14Considering all of our journeys, right?
12:17So when you were able to vote for the first time, each of you, what did that feel like
12:22post your conviction and post all the things?
12:25So I have a different spin.
12:26I never lost my right to vote because I had adjudication withheld and a misdemeanor, you
12:32know?
12:32Can you share what that means?
12:34Yeah.
12:34I had a lower offense, so I never lost the right to vote.
12:37In Florida, I didn't lose the right.
12:38But the thing that didn't impact me, in 2016, y'all, I ran for state office to be a state
12:43legislator, and during that time, my husband was on the ground helping me, you know, with
12:47my campaign, and we went to a straw poll.
12:49Y'all know what a straw poll is.
12:50You go to, like, a fake vote in, like, the Chamber of Commerce.
12:53You get to do a vote.
12:55Desmond was all excited, but I think it was a moment that someone asked Desmond, are you
12:59excited about voting for your wife?
13:01He about to cry.
13:02He asked, are you excited?
13:03And then he had a moment.
13:04It's all right, brother.
13:05He had a moment that he realized that he wasn't able to vote for me.
13:09And so that was really kind of a moment for us and our family that, you know, we're doing
13:13all this work around democracy and stuff like that.
13:15But Desmond, in 2016, was not able to cast a vote for his own wife, and I couldn't have
13:19my husband cast a vote.
13:20So I tell people I lost by one vote.
13:27Oh, Jesus.
13:28You know, and I used to, when I used to talk to people, especially old timers about voting,
13:35back in the civil rights era, and they talk about how voting was a family affair.
13:40And, I mean, families got dressed up in their Sunday best and went to the polls.
13:45And that was always a conversation at the dinner table.
13:47And then I realized that through the years, what happened when you strip mom and dad of
13:52the right to vote, you killed that conversation.
13:55And I had never got that opportunity until 2020, right after we won the right to vote in
14:03Florida.
14:03And I remember just thinking about the fact that this was the first time I actually got
14:08to take my family with me to actually go vote.
14:12But as I was walking up, I started thinking about my ancestors and how they went through
14:21hell.
14:22They went through what I call a gauntlet of death, right?
14:25Because they were threatened, their lives were threatened, and they had remnants that
14:29reminded them.
14:30Like people hanging on trees, they left them hanging to remind my ancestors, you better
14:35not go register to vote, right?
14:37And so they had to walk through that to go register to vote and then come back home.
14:41Then they had to walk through it again to actually go and vote.
14:45And what I thought about was how many lives were lost and how many people were bitten by
14:51dogs and sprayed with fire hoses, right, just so people like me could have the right to
14:56vote.
14:57And I thought about the blood, sweat, and tears that people had given, right, for these
15:03rights.
15:05And the thing that hit me was, you know, because I asked myself, why would they do that, right,
15:12for me, right?
15:14And I understood that what I was doing was something bigger than just something political.
15:19I know people find it hard to believe, but voting is less political than what people think
15:24it is.
15:24And so when I was in that booth and I realized that I was walking on hallowed ground, right,
15:30because of the lives that were lost, I understood that I was engaging in something that transcended
15:35politics.
15:36It transcended the partisan nature.
15:41It transcended even the implicit and explicit racial biases that I wasn't necessarily voting
15:47as a black man.
15:48I was actually voting as a human being, not a Democrat or Republican or whatever, but I
15:53was actually engaging in an act that basically said I am.
15:57It affirmed my existence in the society and it affirmed my worth, right?
16:05It said that I am somebody and I can make a difference.
16:08And that was above everything.
16:10It was above everything.
16:12And I finally understood that's why my ancestors was willing to lay their life down.
16:18They didn't have the perfect candidate.
16:20They didn't have the perfect political party.
16:22They wasn't going to benefit from that, right?
16:25So they died or they was willing to risk their lives so we could have an opportunity to move
16:31it forward, to move the needle forward.
16:33And so I understood that what I was doing was actually putting some respect on my ancestors'
16:40sacrifices.
16:41I put some respect on their name because me not voting would be like saying that they died
16:46in vain.
16:47Right.
16:48Thank you so much for sharing that.
16:50That was so powerful.
16:51Dr. Wright.
16:53So at first, like I said, in Georgia, you cannot vote until you're off probation.
16:58So once again, the girl that does not take no for an answer, I went back to court again
17:03and told the judge that I feel like I've served my sentence.
17:06I served 14 years.
17:07I don't need to be supervised by somebody when I'm doing the right thing.
17:11And the judge went with me and I was able to get my sentence terminated early.
17:15Um, I, I didn't have to serve the five years probation, but when I went to go vote that
17:19first time, mind you, I checked everything.
17:22You said that I was good.
17:23When I got to the poll, they told me I had been out the system too long, that I just
17:28wasn't
17:28even in the system anymore.
17:30So I was discouraged.
17:31I was upset.
17:32I'm not going to lie to hood and me didn't want to come out.
17:34But instead what I did was make sure everybody else around me that could vote did vote.
17:40So it's important, even, even y'all that people will believe that your vote doesn't
17:44matter.
17:45Your vote does matter.
17:46Your vote counts.
17:47So if you have to get Betty Buck Dogg and everybody else and Sue to go to the poll, that's
17:52what you do.
17:52If you can't go, you get somebody else to go because it's not just the presidential
17:56election guys and it's not just the midterms, but it's our county, our commissioners, all
18:01those, all of those elections count.
18:04So you have to spread the word and be proactive.
18:06And now me and my partner, we make sure we go and tell everybody in our family, we even
18:10put it in a group text and I ain't going to lie.
18:12Sometimes we cheat and tell them y'all better vote for this person.
18:18Most families do.
18:20But thank you so much for sharing that, Dr. Wright.
18:23When you were bringing that up, it made me think about when I was incarcerated and I was
18:27in, actually was, I was pre-trial and I was pre-trial and I was about to do my plea.
18:35And the judge says to me, you do know that you're about to, you know, you'll lose your
18:39life rights on voting.
18:41This was in Virginia.
18:42And in my mind, I'm facing 110, well, actually 20 years at the time.
18:47And I was like, well, why do I care, right, about voting when I'm looking at 20 years before
18:52I could, if at all, again.
18:54But at the same time when God spoke to me, it was like, no, you know what?
18:58I said to the judge, I said, well, guess what?
19:00If I can't vote, then I'm going to make sure that I get 10 other people to vote for me.
19:04And when I think about what we're doing now, and Desmond, we talked a little bit about that
19:08too, how you were able to get the Amendment 4 passed.
19:13Because it is about if you don't know your rights, right?
19:17Or even if you've heard from everyone on here how important voting is and why it matters.
19:23And if not for you, it matters for the people who made sure that we had the right to vote.
19:27But what we also did here is that right now, if I don't know my voting rights, or I'm kind
19:34of still on the fence about it, that get other people to vote for you.
19:39Make sure, because if all of us, what did you say, 70 million people, 80 million people
19:45now have a right, 90 million, now it's 90 million people, right, that have a conviction
19:50in this country?
19:51One out of three people.
19:52And I've only seen a few people raise their hand.
19:53And the data don't lie, so y'all don't got to testify today, but there's more people
19:57in here that have an arrest or conviction.
19:59I was going to ask at the end.
20:01I figured since we came out, maybe everybody else would, right?
20:05But I think we only have a few more minutes left.
20:09One, I would like everyone to share how everyone can get in contact with you if they want more
20:15information.
20:15And also, before that, though, share what you're up to right now and how people, what
20:22is the call to action?
20:24Okay, so you can find me at The Real Free.
20:28That's at The Real Free, and free is spelled P-H-R-E-E.
20:32I have a podcast, which is Break Free Podcast.
20:35Follow it, too.
20:36If y'all don't know, everything that I do and I say is about freedom because God did not
20:41give us a spirit of fear.
20:42He gave us a spirit of what, freedom, love, and a sound mind, right?
20:46So I push everybody that's around me, anybody that I come into contact with, I believe that
20:51we all have a superpower within us.
20:53But if we don't exercise our superpower, it lays dormant, and we'll just go for anything
20:58that anybody tell us to do.
21:00So concern in the vote, y'all.
21:02Go out.
21:03Learn more.
21:04Educate yourself.
21:05Drag people to the vote.
21:06I remember, you know, when you were at home with your parents when you was young, they
21:10say, if you hang out on Saturday night, you still got to get up and go to church on Sunday
21:13morning, right?
21:14I'm telling you, if they live in your household, kids, and they old enough to vote, make them
21:18go to the vote, y'all.
21:19We have to begin.
21:20If we look and we think, oh, this is not working in our favor, or that's not working
21:24in our favor.
21:25It's not working in our favor because it's not enough of us doing the work.
21:28It's only so many of us that can do it.
21:30But if we do it and we encourage others to do it, we can get through and we can see
21:34things
21:34because we do have the power.
21:39So in 2004, in Florida, I was a single mom living on government assistance, raising my
21:47children.
21:47And to make the story short, I went to go get food for my children.
21:51And I needed some cash.
21:52And back in the day, I think everybody's around my age in here, you know, we used to write
21:56this thing called checks.
21:57I wrote a check and I wrote it for the amount over, living on faith, that they wouldn't cash
22:02the check until Friday, even though I was putting it in on a Wednesday, whatever day
22:06it was.
22:07That check bounced and got returned.
22:09And two months later, I got two cops knocking on my door, arresting me for a check that was
22:14returned for $87.26.
22:17Till this day, my slate is not clean.
22:19That record still shows up.
22:21Desmond and I was just looking for a house recently to rent after we sold our house.
22:24And we still had to disclose our record and had to go through that anxiety of not being
22:29able to get approved.
22:30So what I'm up to right now, it's harder to do work in the South.
22:34The South is important.
22:35We're in Louisiana.
22:37I'm being intentional in the next few years to make sure that we can pass Clean Slate
22:40in half the country by 2031 and going to be intentional to come to the South.
22:44So that's my focus right now.
22:45We have over 14 million black people, 9 million black people that need their records clear
22:51in the South.
22:52So I'm going to be working on that.
22:53Y'all can find me at cleanslateinitiative.com.
22:56Please go on our website.
22:57Again, 14 states and D.C. have passed Clean Slate.
23:00So if you have a loved one that may have a record or you're one of the people that didn't
23:04raise your hand, check it out because you may have already have your record cleared.
23:09Well, I'm going to go ahead and add a little bit on to that.
23:11What she didn't tell you was that over 18 million people have gotten their records cleared
23:17now because of the work that she's doing.
23:1918 million.
23:2214 states.
23:24I said it at the beginning.
23:24She said it earlier.
23:26Well, I just need to make sure they know that, right?
23:27Because, no, so for me, you know, I talked about, you know, my journey where I came from
23:33homelessness, incarceration, addiction to drugs.
23:36What I didn't talk about was a triumph, right?
23:39And since passing Amendment 4, you know, I've been named Time Magazine one of the 100 most
23:45influential people in the world.
23:48MacArthur Genius Fellow.
23:51I've been named Central Floridian of the Year, Floridian of the Year.
23:55And in 2023, my organization, the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, was actually nominated
24:01for a Nobel Peace Prize by the same organization who nominated Dr. Martin Luther King.
24:07And as my wife said, in spite of all of those things, I still caught hell trying to get
24:13housing, right?
24:14I still felt, was made to feel like I was less than, right?
24:18And so one of the things that I believe that I wanted to do, one of the things that I
24:27wanted
24:27to do was make sure that people like me, people who've been impacted by the justice system,
24:31know that we don't have to settle for second best, that we can achieve so many things, right?
24:36And sometimes God takes us through these things to be of greater service to Him.
24:40And so what I'm doing next is I'm actually starting my campaign and I'm running for governor
24:47of the state of Florida.
24:50Because I believe that if we can have a president that has a record, we can sure enough have
24:55a governor in the state that has a record as well.
25:00And so anybody that's interested in finding out more about my campaign can hit me up on
25:04the social media platforms at DesertMe44 or DesertMe.com is the website.
25:09I appreciate everyone's support.
25:14What a powerful panel, right?
25:17Okay, so I'm going to ask that question one more time that I asked in the beginning.
25:22How many people that are here are justice impacted by a show of hands?
25:27There's the truth.
25:28There it go.
25:29There it is.
25:30Let the church say amen.
25:31Amen.
25:32And what I'll also say is that, again, everyone should have raised their hand because even if
25:38you didn't think you are, you are, right?
25:41Now, if you knew no one who was justice impacted, and we know that not to be true, at least
25:46now
25:46you know four people up here.
25:48And if you are sitting next to someone who raised their hand, then maybe ask them if
25:52there's something that they need, how can they help, or how can you get involved in
25:55what they're doing?
25:56Well, my name is also Dr. Topeka K. Sam.
25:59You can reach me across all social media platforms at Topeka K. Sam or my website, DrTopekaKSam.com
26:06to get involved in any of the multiple things that I do.
26:09But again, please vote.
26:12And if you're not sure, here are the experts to let you know what your voting rights are and
26:17make sure that you bring 10 people, I'm not even going to say one, 10 people with you
26:21to vote this electoral season.
26:25Betty Buck and the dog.
26:27Thank you, Dr. Sam.
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