In the early ’90s, I was a militant activist and bank robber. I saw myself as a Black Robin Hood, stealing from white-owned banks to fund Black cultural events. I was caught and sentenced under then-Senator Joe Biden‘s 1994 crime bill to an unheard of 52 years, though I was a first time offender and no one was hurt during any of my robberies. And I was released by Trump‘s 2019 criminal justice reform bill, the First Step Act, thanks to Trump’s prodding of Congress to reverse many of the draconian laws written and supported by our current president.
The former president freed 5,000 incarcerated people like me from outrageous sentences. Yet he is now facing the possibility of serving a sentence of his own. As I watched former President Donald Trump get perp-walked and mug shot at the Fulton County Jail in Georgia, I couldn’t help but notice the deep irony: The same criminal justice system that Trump made radical reforms to is now being used to discredit him and hamper his chances of winning the presidency for a second time.
None of us who have benefited from Trump’s radical reform of the criminal justice system under the First Step Act are blind to that irony. But it goes beyond that: Trump’s repeated run-ins with the law, and what seems like an unfair obsession with catching him and punishing him disproportionately for his so-called “crimes,” reminds a lot of us of what was done to us.
From where I’m sitting, the events of this week will only increase Trump’s “street cred”—especially among formerly incarcerated voters.
FULTON COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
Having experienced being arrested and booked, I can tell you there’s no such thing as a good looking mug shot. Seeing Trump’s has an especially impactful meaning to people like myself, formerly incarcerated individuals who languished under disproportionately harsh sentences.
Many critics of Trump interpret his arrests as proof that he is unsuitable to return to the White House. But to my eyes, as I still struggle to repair my life from the damage of serving an unjust sentence, this is evidence that he may be just the right person for the job.
He’s literally been in my shoes. No other president can brag on that. And believe me, he will brag about it. Such boasting will not fall on deaf ears.
The U.S. is still leading the world with our incarceration rates. But like many of those incarcerated, I have now re-entered society and have finished serving my probation, which permits me to vote in the next presidential election. The same can be said about those released in the state of Florida, which has restored the right to vote for many returning citizens.
It’s hard for me to imagine others like me released from prison under the First Step Act voting against the man who freed us. Having seen his mugshot only makes us more inclined to vote for him.
Just ask any popular public figure how to establish “street cred.” They’ll tell you: Get arrested!
Trump’s credibility doesn’t just improve among the formerly incarcerated. Let’s face it: Americans love an underdog. What better way to make a billionaire relatable and counted among the disenfranchised than to have him targeted for criminal and civil prosecution?
At the end of the day, these repeated arrests may end up having a very unintended consequence. Instead of proving to the country that Trump is unelectable, it may have removed a barrier in the form of him being unrelatable. These arrests have made Trump relatable to the 5 million people in America under some form of supervision by the U.S. criminal legal system.
In 2020, President Trump got the votes of 18 percent of Black men. Don’t be surprised if he gets more in 2024 if he’s the GOP nominee for president. Now that he’s suffered the indignity of what Joe Biden’s crime bill put so many of us through, he will be an even bigger champion of our cause.
Craig Scott of McKain Entertainment Network is a formerly incarcerated actor, militant activist and filmmaker.
The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.
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