Prison reform has been a hot-button issue during this primary season. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton have made it a subject of various speeches, and last year, Barack Obama became the first sitting president to visit a federal prison. With the for-profit prison systems in the limelight and seemingly no meaningful action taken by Washington to quell the ever-increasing incarceration rates disproportionately skewed towards black Americans, sh*t is getting real. Some are calling it the “new Jim Crowe.” Issues like felons voting, and gaining back basic rights after they’ve served their sentence are now more important than ever.
Which leads to Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe giving felons the right to vote in his state, which has been a contentious issue for politicians. Did he do what’s constitutionally right? Is it politics? Republicans believe he’s giving 200,000 felons the right to vote so Hillary can get a boost (if she’s the nominee) this November. Or, is he simply doing what he believes is right?
It’s times like these in which satire can help the most. Key, Peele and The Daily Show can be depended on to set things on the correct path, and put this whole felons voting issue in the right perspective.