"Rikers" has had a scary reputation for a long time. While I strive to be positively focused and look for the good, I have noticed through the years that people only get better in this country (?) after everyone has milked the every problem for every cent he or she can steal from taxpayers. Maybe this is meant when saying that 'the love of money is the root of all evil.' Whether it's roads or prisons, health care or other types of social reform, change is discouraged by the status quo, but a revolution is always imminent. It begins in the hearts and minds of the person and then migrates to the people.
To avoid the future's nationwide carnage, I strongly suggest we make the next one a Revolution of Love. LOVE ONE ANOTHER is not a new precept, except concerning practicing it. If you love someone, you will not hurt them. If you love yourself, you will not throw oneself in harms' way, either. People typically take action only when they have to. It is called hitting one's bottom. We can push that moment into existence a little sooner, but that does not mean sitting on our hands or our laurels.
When we get honest and drop our fear-based, knee-jerk reactions to the issues defacing our Constitution and Bill of Rights, then we will address problems before they grow unmanageable. The Declaration of Indepence was drafted in part as a response to oppression and taxation without representation. Well, if EX-convicts are disenfranchised from voting yet pay taxes, where's the representation? Representation is not a mindless yielding to the pipedream idea that persons "they" cannot vote for will respond to "their" needs because politically, THEIR voice is just noise.
Me, I am done yielding to politicians telling me I am damaged goods. My last crime was June 30th of 1984. The person I was has long since disappeared from planet earth. Yet, securing employment in the helping professions is ILLEGAL. Since I cannot get a real job, I guess I will run for office. :-) Yes, tongue in cheek humor, as I know, politicians work very hard sometimes, but you know what I am saying.
SALUTE to Kathy Morse! https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathy-m-8b3b9794/