Proposal Sample

2006-2007 Global Action and Social Change Conference

Citizenship is commonly thought to be a status granted to those born in or naturalized in a country.  Additionally, it is believed that certain rights bestowed to citizens cannot be taken away but certain conditions prove this latter belief wrong.  In twelve democratic countries where the right to vote forms the foundation of the republic certain sectors are refrained from exercising this quintessential right.  The United States is one of these twelve countries and being labeled a felon is one of the reasons why a person in this free country cannot vote.  Supreme Court Justices and lower court judges feel justified in perpetuating this revocation of such a fundamental right.  The irony is that other countries who have a similar style of government are able to understand the violation against the status of citizenship that this practice embodies yet the United States who fights for democracy world-wide chooses to understand otherwise.  By looking at who makes up the prison population it is clear that there may be a possible link between race, the prison system and who is disfranchised from the vote.  For this reason I question if there is a relationship between these three variables in light of race relations and who continues to be (or not) a citizen in this country.  Thus it is possible that some of the answers found with this project can assist us as Americans in understanding the relationship with the world.