Florida Rights Restoration Coalition Announces Day of Action, April 1

Citizens Call for Truly Automatic Civil Rights Restoration Process and Removal of Employment Barriers

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
March 20, 2008

CONTACT:
Muslima Lewis, Racial Justice Project Director, (786) 363-2729
Brandon Hensler, Director of Communications, (786) 363-2700 or media@aclufl.org

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – On April 1, the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition will mobilize hundreds of citizens at the Florida State Capitol to demand truly automatic, paperwork-free civil rights restoration for Florida citizens with past felony convictions. We will also call on Florida’s legislative and executive branches to remove barriers to employment for people with past felony convictions.

The daylong schedule of events includes educational forums, a march and rally to the state capitol concluding with grassroots lobbying of the executive and legislative branches and allies to urge passing comprehensive civil rights restoration reforms and removing barriers to employment. Additional information and registration can be found online at: www.restorerights.org.

“Without meaningful employment licensing reform and clemency reform, close to one million Florida citizens with past felony convictions will remain locked out of society without the fundamental right to vote, access to quality employment opportunities and an improved quality of life," said Nathaniel A. Toler, a Jacksonville-based community activist.

The members of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition are calling on the Clemency Board to make civil rights restoration truly automatic and paperwork-free. In addition, the coupling of rights restoration with the ability to obtain a state occupational license means that thousands of Florida citizens are still unable to find gainful employment and fully re-integrate into society. Moreover, hundreds of thousands of individuals remain ineligible for civil rights restoration because they must first pay all outstanding restitution obligations before they are eligible to regain their civil rights. While it is important that court-ordered restitution is paid, this restitution pre-condition to restoration of civil rights is particularly onerous because many citizens are unable to obtain meaningful employment due to licensing restrictions and, therefore, are unable to pay restitution. Easing licensing restrictions is supportive of re-entry and also of victims who are owed restitution, since citizens will be in a better financial position to make restitution payments.

“The Florida Rights Restoration Coalition is committed to the creation of a truly automatic and paperwork-free civil rights restoration process and to removing civil rights restoration as an automatic disqualifier for many state-issued occupational licenses,” said Marian Bacon White, President of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition and President of the 11th Episcopal District Lay Organization of the AME Church.

To join us for the Day of Action call toll free at: (877) 826-8682 or (877) U-COUNT-2, or visit www.restorerights.org.

The Florida Rights Restoration Coalition is a coalition of over 50 national, state and local organizations dedicated to eradicating Florida’s Reconstruction era civil rights ban. FRRC member organizations host Restoration of Civil Rights (RCR) workshops, lobby the Clemency Board and the legislature for RCR reform, and create public awareness of the unfair ban on civil rights, including voting rights, in Florida.

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