India had its untouchables. Europe had the Jews. Groups of people who were blatantly denied the rights enjoyed by most citizens of their native countries. And we Americans, who just know that we're as close to perfect as humans can get, had our n-word people.
You know the word. I hate it, and it digusts me when some black people throw it around for shock value, or for God-knows-what. Rhymes with "bigger."
In many white people's minds, "they" weren't even human, or at least didn't deserve to be treated as humans. Those whites who were near the bottom of the scale on intelligence, education, manners, cleanliness, morality, hated "them" the most, violently resisting any possibility of eating in the same restaurant or using the same bathroom.
Sometime soon I'll post another article about our possible "need" to have someone to hate, and why it may have had survival value in the past. For now, let me just say that there's evidence that it may be hard-wired into us, one of those "natural" tendencies that modern times challenge us to understand and control.
India outlawed the untouchable classification, and Hitler made anti-semitism unfashionable, and here in the U.S., we almost-perfect humans passed a Civil Rights act, and we actually enforce it much of the time.
Since I'm not especially stupid, I know that terrible social class discrimination still exists in India, and that anti-semitism is far from dead. Here in the U.S., racial hatred and fear still pollute our political and social dialogue. But none of these is enshrined by law. You're free to have any kind of sick, regressive thoughts about other people, but if you go too far in acting on them, you can be charged with a crime.
OMG!!! What do we do now??? Who are we going to demonize? Who are we going to be better than? Whom can we blame for all of our deficiencies now? Of course, we don't think this consciously, or say it out loud. Our most primitive, potentially dangerous motivations are below the surface. Underground, so to speak. That's one of the goals of most psychotherapy. To think the unthinkable, speak the unspeakable, and examine it in the bright light of reason.
When those primitive motivations break through the surface and take control of our actions, they usually don't sound primitive at all. Our actions seem oh-so-reasonable, right, and just.
Now we're back to convicted felons. The absolute ideal target group. Maybe we can't claim they killed Christ, or sinned in a previous life, or that they're "children of the curse," but they actually did something wrong. Bad people. Dangerous, vicious, incapable of change. They didn't play by the rules. Nothing is too bad to do to them.
Since that famous n-word already has such ugly connotations, let's adapt it to felons. We just take the "f" from felon, and call convicted felons "figgers." We can use all those hate phrases from the past, such as, "I don't want my daughter marrying no figger!" Or "No figgers in this neighborhood!" Or "We have to hire people of every color, male or female, gay or straight, but we sure don't have to hire figgers, and we're not going to."
As a society, we'd like our "them" lable to be permanent. The n-word group sometimes, but rarely, managed to "pass" as white. To the best of my knowledge, an Indian who was born untouchable would always be untouchable. Jews could leave the "them" group by converting to Christianity, except under Hitler; even a Catholic nun who was born Jewish was murdered in a gas chamber.
Good news! The figger lable is permanent!
If you were convicted of a felony, even a minor one, thirty years ago, sentenced to a year's probation which you completed successfully, and since then you've been the model of an upright citizen, you're still a "convicted felon." A "known criminal." Anyone who knows that about you - and these days it's easy to find out - may treat you like a habitual ax murderer on the prowl for the next victim. In some states you can't vote - which all responsible voters should do. In some you can't run for public office, ever, no matter how qualified you may be.
It's fair, though, right? The figgers chose to be figgers. Not entirely true. Some were innocent but convicted because they agreed to a plea bargain rather than spend years in jail waiting for their "fair and speedy trial." Some were framed, some tortured into false confessions by bad cops. Of course many really did make some wrongful decision and commit acts we just can't permit, but is it fair to treat them as monsters for the rest of their lives? To keep them from earning a decent living? And sometimes also demand that they pay the cost of their incarceration???
It's certainly not fair to those who've changed and want to be productive members of society. It's not fair to those who could change if given a chance, and for many, some guidance. It's not fair to the families of figgers forced into poverty. It's not fair to the taxpayers whose hard-earned dollars are used to build and maintain more and bigger prisons.
And no, it doesn't make us safer.
Cynics like to point out that we can't guarantee that anyone leaving prison will become a law abiding citizen. Fine. But why guarantee that they can't?
It would be wonderful if we didn't need anyone to hate, any "them" group, but wow! That's expecting a lot from people who are already so close to perfect.