Across the United States and around the globe, people are debating and experimenting with ways forward.

In the early 2000s, formerly incarcerated organizers convened to develop a political strategy to challenge the stigma and discrimination associated with a criminal record. Their campaign - Ban the Box - sought to remove the question, “have you ever been convicted” from applications for employment and housing. Today, Ban the Box hiring policies have been implemented in hundreds of US cities and counties. But while many employers have implemented fairer hiring processes, others have embraced new procedures without substantive change. This essay celebrates the early Ban the Box movement in in Los Angeles, California, and reflects on the gap that often exists between what people want and what can be achieved through policy reform.