It's Hard Out There for a Felon

This past Sunday there was a little excitement in my part of Texas. After carjacking two cars, this Black guy hijacked an 18-wheeler with a White woman inside and led police on a slow speed, three county chase (the woman was driving with a gun to her head). Thankfully, the incident ended peacefully but almost immediately after he was in custody the suspect, Samuel Scott Jones, began blaming his actions on racism.

Jones claimed that all Black men have an "x" on their backs, that the government is out to get them, and that they can't get good jobs. He did apologize to his hostage and credited her with stopping him from doing anything that would get him killed, but I shudder to think how many victicrat* Blacks and White liberals will be ready to excuse his crime because of his race.

I'm not one of those victicrat Blacks who thinks that life is so hard for Blacks, especially Black men, that any criminal act they committ is ok because it's a political statement against a racist system. Crime isn't ok from anyone for any reason. As a Black person I actually have the radical idea that Blacks should be more opposed to crime committed by fellow Blacks because such crime makes our whole race look bad. Jones' actions only added to the negative stereotype of the predatory Black male. And the premise behind his actions is just false.

As stated above Jones claimed, among other things, that Black men can't get good jobs. Funny, in my community and in my circle of family, friends, and associates are Black men who've managed to become policemen, bank managers, surgeons, computer programmers, business owners, photographers, and teachers, to name a few occupations. All of these men grew up in the same system that Samuel Jones did yet, somehow, they all mangaged to find good jobs. Maybe not being a felon helped.

That's right. Samuel Jones was already a felon before he embarked on his "political statement" Sunday. Jones served nine years in prison for possession of cocaine with intent to distribute. He was released in 2002 and could only find low paying jobs afterwards. Well, duh! What did Jones think? Employers would welcome him with open arms? Actually some did welcome him, just not the ones who paid what Jones thinks he's worth.

I marvel at people who think society owes them a living no matter what their behavior or lifestyle and then blame society, not their illegal, immoral, or irresponsible acts, when they can't get or keep a job. Well Mr. Jones I've got news for you: it's hard out there for a felon. Shocking as it may seem, most of us decent folks tend to look askance at things like drug dealing and the people who do them. If we have a choice between hiring someone who's broken the law and someone who hasn't, we tend to go with the latter. Call us crazy, but that's just how we work. And if you, Mr. Jones, really wanted to work you should've played by the rules. No one forced you to sell cocaine and no one forced you to hijack a truck and take a hostage. Those were your choices. Stop blaming racism and try taking responsibility for your own actions, Mr. Jones. That might help you when you get out of jail next time. Otherwise, you'll be making political statements until you're shot dead. And that'll be your choice, too.

*This term was coined by Black author Larry Elder to describe Blacks who blame all of their failures on racism and refuse to take responsibility for the consequences of their own actions.