Over the years, voting rights have expanded to give more people the right to vote; in 2020, California parolees could vote after Prop 17 passed. Among those who advocated for the change was Ucedrah Osby, executive director of Community Interventions. Now, she continues to educate the community on voting and encourages everyone who is eligible to go out and vote.
Osby stated it was important that people on parole were given the right to vote because it is a part of welcoming them back into the community.
“It was important to free the vote for everybody on parole because it gave them a sense of belonging and it restored the human and civil rights that they had lost upon incarceration,” said Osby. “Upon being released into your community, you don’t feel like a part of it immediately, and so that gives a person a sense of belonging and redemption, right, by restoring their right to vote.”
Once someone is on parole, they have already served their time for whatever crime they had committed, and becasue of that, Osby said there is no reason to hold off on restoring their rights. When the proposition passed, she described the moment as epic.
“I will never forget yelling and screaming at 11:58 p.m. on the night of the election when I saw that Prop 17 had passed. It was just epic. We did it,” said Osby. “People were agreeing with us that our rights did need to be restored, right? All at the same time. That was something that had been fought for for a very long time. For decades, they fought for the restoration of voting rights for those who were still on parole, and it finally passed, so it was amazing.”
That night gave her hope that when the community comes together, they would be able to keep making change happen.
“It gave me hope that the power that we needed that community power that we need to transform systems, to get the resources that we need, to get better policies, smarter policies for our communities that are impacted,” said Osby.
One reason why making the rights available immediately for parolees was important for Osby is that she had also gone through the experience of being incarcerated at 18 years old and did not get to vote for the first time until she was 31 in the 2008 presidential election. She said she was “stoked” for her first time voting for former President Barack Obama.
“Showing up to vote and seeing that he had become president, he was going to be our president for those next four years. It started something, it created more fuel for the fire. And I’ve been voting ever since. Because I knew that my vote counted, I knew that,” said Osby.
She carries that experience into her work today.
“The feeling of hopelessness of waiting, wanting to be accepted by the community, welcomed, you know, it’s tough. So, me being able to share that with others is very helpful because everybody needs hope. Everybody needs to belong to feel welcomed, and that’s my duty; that’s my civic duty,” explained Osby.
She advises everyone to take part in the civic process, whether it’s voting or attending meetings to hold the elected officials accountable.
“Voting is just one way to become civically engaged, and so showing up to the local government meetings is critical, right? Because it gives you the opportunity to hold your elected officials accountable, to share what’s working and what’s not working for the community. And it also encourages them to come in community and learn more, right? We can always learn more, and elected officials need to be able to learn more about our community,” said Osby.
As some people have felt hopeless when the outcome of elections or policies did not go their way, Osby urges them to keep fighting.
“If you don’t fight, you can never win. If you never vote, then we can never get the policies that we need. Don’t lay down, don’t be discouraged. This is the only way that we’re gonna impact change is by voting, by being civically engaged. And this is what our ancestors fought for,” said Osby.
