Odd those certain guests are vetted and others aren’t.
“Give folks a chance to get through the door. Give them a chance so they can make their case,” Those words were uttered by President Obama two weeks ago at Rutgers University in Newark, N.J. He was announcing new programs that will help people like me — people who have criminal records — re-assimilate into society. The president also issued a mandate to the Office of Personnel Management to ban the box on applications for federal employment.
President Obama wants felons to be allowed to work in federal jobs and live in public housing. But we are not allowed in his home.
In June, when JustLeadership USA’s founder, Glenn Martin, appeared at the Eisenhower Executive Office building for a previously scheduled meeting, he was given a “Needs Escort” pass and told by the Secret Service that he couldn’t enter the building. Eventually, Martin was allowed to attend the meetings, but he described the experience as “prison-like” in an open letter to the president.
Last month, the national policy director for the Restaurant Opportunity Center, Kennard Ray, was similarly denied access to the White House Summit on Worker Voice because of his criminal record.
But both Ray and Martin were invited to the White House because of their achievements and public service. Martin started his own nonprofit organization. Ray helped raise the minimum wage for servers in Maine. Neither Martin nor Ray could be described as dangerous. Discrimination at the Obama White House against people who are “justice involved” is not new.
In 2010, a woman who had been convicted of prescription drug fraud attended a White House event that highlighted the need to extend jobless benefits. When then-Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was asked about the woman’s presence at the event, he told reporters: “…it’s safe to say had we known [about her criminal history] she wouldn’t have been here.”