3/2 - Job March on Oakland City Hall

Um, this application says that a felony does not disqualify you from working for the City.

What if someone is a child molester and applies for a job working with kids?

Protesters rip Brown, curfew
Critics at City Hall job fair say restrictions hurt ex-felons trying to pull their lives together
By Heather MacDonald, STAFF WRITER

OAKLAND — Angry at Mayor Jerry Brown and fed up with the city's hiring policies, about 50 people rallied Wednesday at City Hall and disrupted a job fair staged for their benefit.

Held by Critical Resistance and All of Us or None, many of the speakers at the lunchtime rally criticized Brown's support for a

10 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew for some Oaklanders on probation for drug or violent crimes.

"It's flat-out discrimination," said Dorsey Nunn, of All of Us or None. Brown "has a job, and he can feed his family. He can support a curfew."

Others spoke of the shame of being forced to admit on the city's job application they had been convicted of a felony, and called on the city to remove that question from the form. Answering yes, however, does not automatically disqualify an applicant, officials said.

Brown said the protesters were "totally missing the point."

"The curfew is designed to save lives," Brown said. "We're working hard to help ex-felons find jobs. Obviously, there's more to be done, but we're doing more than most cities."

The mayor's critics contend curfews do nothing to reduce crime, and they make ex-felons' lives harder.

While the rally on City Hall Plaza was peaceful, a shouting match erupted when protesters went inside City Hall to a job fair hosted by Brown's office.

Nunn and other protesters clashed with Ron Owens, an ex-felon who now helps run the city's Project Choice, which helps parolees re-enter society. While some demonstrators carried signs reading "No Curfews. No Cages," others chanted "Jobs, not curfews."

"People can turn their lives around," Owens said. "There's no handout or reward for felons, but there are opportunities."

But Nunn called the job fair a "job farce."

Gil Duran, a spokesman for Brown, said the group's actions made it clear they "didn't want jobs — they wanted publicity."

The fair, which included Allied Fellowship, the Private Industry Council and the Oaklanders Assistance Center as well as Acts Full Gospel Church and Allen Temple Baptist Church, was put together by Duran after the protest was announced.

Also on Wednesday, Brown's office stepped up its efforts to encourage companies to hire ex-convicts by touting tax credits through Project Choice.

Oaklanders Oppose Curfew & Demand City Hall Fulfill Its Promise of Jobs for Former Prisoners

OAKLAND, CA -- Former prisoners, parolees, probationers, and community members will gather outside of Oakland City Hall on Wednesday to protest the city’s curfew and demand support, not scapegoating, of former prisoners. The City of Oakland’s new curfew policy and its requirement that applicants reveal if they have been convicted of a felony are just two examples of the pervasive discrimination former prisoners face.

Instead of following the recommendations of experts about supporting former prisoners in the journey home, Oakland is doing just the opposite -- imposing curfews and requiring job applicants to reveal past convictions. “We are protesting to end the curfew, and to end all forms of discrimation against former prisoners. So many of us need jobs,” says Dorsey Nunn. “Jerry Brown needs to see how much discrimination former prisoners face, and needs to stop scapegoating former prisoners for political gain.”

“Our main demands on Wednesday are that Oakland ban the box on its employment forms that asks if a person has been convicted of a felony and ends the curfew policy,” adds Linda Evans of All of Us or None. “Otherwise, we must endure life-long punishment for crimes committed years ago, even though we have already suffered the punishment of prison.”

Referring to the curfew, Evans continued, “The curfew is a house arrest version of prison – once we’re released from prison, we need a chance to readjust to a normal adult life, with equal responsibilities and opportunities as everyone else in the community.”

The protest follows Jerry Brown’s Press Secretary’s response to criticism of the curfew. The Press Secretary wrote: "The City of Oakland maintains a policy that embraces the hiring of felons…We understand that in order for people to survive and thrive, they must be able to work. If you know any felons who need work, send them our way."

“If the City of Oakland were really committed to hiring people with felony convictions they would ban the discriminatory box on the employment form – and follow through on their word to hire us,” countered Nunn.

Discrimination against former prisoners is pervasive, real, and extremely damaging. The Little Hoover Commission reported that an estimated 80% of parolees were unemployed in its 2003 report, Back to the Community: Safe and Sound Parole Policies. Over 60% of employers involved in a UC Berkeley study said they would definitely not or probably not consider hiring a formerly incarcerated person. “With discrimination like this, people who have been in prison are unable to feed their families, pay the rent and utility bills, or have any hope for the future,” added Nunn.

The protest also comes on the heels of a study by the Urban Strategies Council of Oakland that starkly contradicts the Mayor’s contention that 80% of those involved in Oakland homicides were on probation or parole. The Report found that in 2004, only 36% of homicide victims and 27% of suspects were on parole or probation. (An Analysis of Homicides in Oakland, February 10, 2005; http://www.urbanstrategies.org.)

“Study after study concludes that curfews do not reduce crime,” says Sitara Nieves, Organizer with Critical Resistance. “Policies like the curfew and job applications that stigmatize former prisoners only compound the problems people face coming home from prison. A curfew also means that more people will be returned to jail, further destabilizing Oakland’s already fragmented communities. We need to create real opportunities for former prisoners. Banning the box on the employment form and ending the curfew are good starts.”

This action is led by All of Us or None, a grassroots organizing initiative of prisoners, former prisoners and felons, fighting to combat the many forms of discrimination that former prisoners face as the result of felony convictions, and Critical Resistance, an Oakland-based grassroots organization working for genuine safety in Oakland.