(Newswire.net — June 18, 2015) — Syracuse, N.Y. – What started as a story of success, turned into a fiasco as the stories hero got fired from his job.
Quante Wright did the right thing. It is said that it is easier for a drug addict to stop using narcotics, than for a gang member to leave his crew. Wright was in prison when he decided to fight for his chance to lead a normal life and he continued his education.
The men who sent him to prison held a speech at Wrights graduation, and after it was published, the story of Wright’s success inspired many less-than-fortunate to seek out a second chance.
Working as a successful car dealer, Quante Wright had just closed a deal, when his employer fired him, the Siracuse.com reported.
Wright served his sentence in prison, managed to get away from his life as a gang member, got to college and got himself a job working as a successful car dealer. On Monday, Quante Wright went to work at the Lowery Brothers Chrysler Jeep dealership. He sold a 2015 Jeep Cherokee, then he was fired.
Steve Spector is the manager at the car dealership who hired and subsequently fired Wright. He a told newspaper that he hired Wright based on an interview with him and his resume, but fired Wright after he realized his criminal past, for which he went to prison.
Wright didn’t lie on a job interview about his violent past – he simply wasn’t asked about it, and, having put his past behind him, he didn’t volunteer that information during the interview.
Spector admitted he never asked if he had a criminal past, however claimed that Wright should have mentioned it, especially since he was already hired when asked to fill the application form, containing the questions about past criminal convictions. The form also asked about the nature of crime(s) for those with prior convictions, which employers have the right to ask.
Wright’s conviction was a violation of the federal RICO law, which stands for Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. The crimes Wright committed included attempted murder and dealing cocaine when he was a member of the Brighton Brigade.
So, here is the dilemma: it is understandable why Spector fired Wright. On the other hand, Wright’s story was used in a greater context – it served as a reminder that it is possible to have clean and normal life after rehabilitation in a correctional institution.
Wright is prime exemplar on how it is possible to do something meaningful with life after a criminal past is put behind, however, the fact that he was fired and may even lose his home, favors the general once-a-criminal-always-a-criminal stigma, which demoralizes those with criminal past, preventing them from trying to take a different path.
Wright stood out as a good worker, yet he has fired because of the technicality. Not a minor one, but a technicality nevertheless.
His story tells us that society may not be ready to give everyone a second chance, at least not where Wright worked.