BY SHANNON ROSS, CEO OF THE COMMUNITY; ADVOCATE FOR THE INCARCERATED
I can’t vote, and as things currently stand, I won’t be able to vote for 9½ more years. I work on behalf of the incarcerated – the most disenfranchised population in America – while pushing for public safety and just policies for communities that have been given the least throughout their lives.
Understandably, I am not Pollyannish about democracy. I have been disillusioned of American slogans about justice, the pursuit of happiness, and the quintessential American dream, because I have seen what is hidden from public view. The concept of a diverse people working in concert to address collective problems and build a prosperous future is one I still honor. But I know how powerful tribalism and human self-interest are as forces working against it. There have always been communities left behind and denied the tools to understand what is happening to them, let alone to shape it.
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If I had to point to one thing that defines my view of democracy, it is that I know thousands of people who are more informed on the issues and more attuned to collective good over individual preference than most voters I encounter. Yet they can’t vote. Their opinions, even outside of the ballot box, are cast aside, if they’re noticed at all. Meanwhile, millions whose understanding extends only as far as their own limited experience hold the greatest influence over what democracy looks like and what gets promoted in its name. That contradiction is the air I breathe at work. It is what makes the American promise feel both real and unfinished to me.
And yet when democracy actually goes well, when people have a voice, when they are informed with accurate information that has been contextualized rather than flattened, the messiness of it can be genuinely empowering, invigorating and inspiring. Through it all, I still believe in democracy and that the version worth fighting for is possible when the people currently locked out of it are finally let in.
