Editor's note

If you've kept up with our coverage of those coming out of our state's prisons, you've learned that most struggle to get jobs, and the ones they have are typically part-time or temporary.

We've also reported that the number of incarcerated women, most of them mothers, is growing. We revealed that the key to success for those pursuing legislation to seal the records of some former prisoners rested on a multi-racial alliance. And we showed that few business owners are taking advantage of the financial incentives meant to encourage them to hire ex-offenders.

For our most-affected citizens, and those working to help them, those issues are daunting enough.

But now it appears there is a new challenge for those who advocate on behalf of this population. Even the flurry of policy changes that have occurred over the last few years can't seem to budge one stubborn statistic: If you're black, you'll still have a harder time getting a job.

Those words won't surprise many of you, I'm sure. But this month's cover story lends new credibility to that long-held belief by confirming it with another population that finds itself in some similar circumstances.

Some Latinos who've been in prison, it seems, recognize that they have certain advantages over their black counterparts--skin color being one of them. Reporter Rupa Shenoy had a hard time getting some people to talk with her about this touchy subject, but her story reveals that this issue remains important for those most in need of work.

It becomes part of a package of characteristics that end up slotting prospective employees into the positive or negative column. Employers may view lighter-skinned Latinos as hard working, Shenoy learned. And, regardless of their work ethic, many black workers still get viewed with suspicion--a potential enemy of sorts for some white employers.

This creates obvious problems for individuals. But it also has consequences for communities.

Black people in prison, for instance, come home to similarly supportive families as their Latino counterparts, Shenoy writes. But that support runs out because of the financial and other struggles those families are having. Black neighborhoods, it seems, don't have enough jobs for those who have never been in prison, and simply cannot support a steady stream of those who have. Employers in other neighborhoods, however, remain reluctant to hire them.

That dilemma is not lost upon some advocates. As one of them, Walter L. Boyd, told Shenoy, "It just got to me. We never got anybody a job." That frustration, in part, prompted him to give up teaching a job-readiness course.

Meanwhile, the social service agencies that provide an array of services to Latino residents may begin to have their own struggles in the coming years. Few of the advocacy groups that specialize in helping former prisoners find work serve Latinos. Maybe it's because their numbers are smaller, or maybe their staffs don't speak Spanish, but the result leaves Latinos to rely primarily on their personal networks.

In this country, Chicago is second only to Los Angeles in the size of its Mexican community; surely those networks will get stressed as these numbers increase. And it's anyone's guess what kind of tension will result as these problems play out in each of these communities. Dialogue and alliance seem like obvious, important strategies--before things get worse.

Too often, however, these issues are not broached among those charged with solving these challenges. Fearing a divide-and-conquer mentality, many activists are reluctant to say what the former prisoners themselves had the courage to tell Shenoy.

Some advocates pursue a one-size-fits-all approach that fails to address the nuances of the needs of each group. And others are so focused on preserving the programs they have built during a time of economic challenges, they lose the bigger picture.

This story reveals much about what that picture should include. Tough conversations about tough issues like skin color and stereotypes need to happen in more places than just these pages if we truly expect those released from prison to become productive citizens.

COPYRIGHT 2005 Community Renewal Society
COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group