6 reasons to stop using “felon” language

… using the word “felon” as pejorative impacts everyone with a felony conviction.

By Joshua Hoe (Leading with Conviction™ 2021)

1. People are more than their worst moments, and, when you reduce someone who committed a felony into a “felon,” it is dehumanizing and suggests that we are forever second-class citizens.

    

2. Your best chance at public safety is someone returning from incarceration invested in the body politic, with pro-social dreams of contributing to their community. Foreclosing people’s ability to dream is a terrible reintegration strategy.

    

3. We believe our rights are non-negotiable. We served our sentences and paid our debt. Our rights are not conditional and subject to whim. You don’t have to agree, but we will oppose it every time we hear differently.

    

4. Don’t tell me you are a Democrat who believes in defending voting rights in communities of color and suggest that you support “felons” being separated from the body politic. Where do you think the vast majority of people in state prisons come from? Who do you think is most disenfranchised?

    

5. If you participated or cared about George Floyd but are now acting like disenfranchisement is earned, I think you have lost your way. This is not who Democrats are supposed to be. This is not why many of us, like myself, support this party.

    

6. You are not really mad that Trump has felony convictions. You are mad that he is unrepentant, shows no remorse, and makes no amends. Talk about that instead of suggesting that the millions of people with a felony conviction should be separated from politics and the body politic.

So, my message to the Democratic Party is this, Do better. When you say Trump should be disqualified because of a felony conviction, you are giving the thumbs up to discriminating against and demonizing millions just to make political points. This is not OK.

And yes, that is what you are saying. You are saying, “Because Trump has felony convictions, he should be disqualified from politics.” That logically presumes the same to be true for everyone with a felony conviction — which is about 20 million Americans. Focus on Trump’s bad policies or on his refusal to accept responsibility for his bad behavior. There is plenty to criticize him on with Project 2025 and his past record as president. Words matter, language matters, and using the word “felon” as pejorative impacts everyone with a felony conviction.

Joshua Hoe is Senior Policy Manager at Dream.Org and 2021 graduate of the Leading with Conviction™ program. Republished from his Twitter/X (with edits) by permission. He was at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago when he wrote this piece.