|
José’s story shows why we must advocate for justice — and how powerful your support can be. No one should ever go to jail for being poor. But that is the cruel reality too many Americans are facing — people like José Young, a veteran living on disability payments, who was charged with theft of services for falling behind on his sewage and trash collection bill in Chickasaw, Alabama. Once a factory worker who assembled transmissions for Ford Motor Co., José lost his leg in a car accident and was unable to work. That’s when he began struggling to catch up on bills. For someone who had made a conscious effort his entire life to stay on the right side of the law, the thought of having a criminal record was humiliating, especially when Alabama has a law that exempts people surviving on disability payments from trash collection fees.
|
