I've come to a decision, but I'm gonna need your help
If you have 3 minutes, I'd like to get your feedback on something:
As our country finally grapples with the long-ignored truths of systemic racism, many of us are taking a long-overdue hard look at things we once took for granted.
The fact is, our country was built on slavery, and the white supremacist ideology that justified it. And ending slavery, didn't miraculously excise racism. In fact, the very Constitutional amendment that ended slavery, left a loophole.
Under the 13th Amendment, slavery was banned in the United States, "except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted."
In other words:
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The slavery of incarcerated Americans is permitted by the Constitution. |
This clause has been used throughout our history to target Black and Brown men. It was widely used during Reconstruction to continue stealing the labor of Black men, sometimes back to the exact same fields they had previously been forced to work when enslaved. Entire legal codes were created to arrest Black people on flimsy charges so the state could rent out their labor.
That foundation in racism has lasted to this very day, with a criminal justice system that disproportionately incarcerates Black and Brown Americans, frequently for non-violent drug crimes, and then puts them to work for little or no pay.
According to the Prison Policy Initiative, the average minimum daily wage for an incarcerated American is less than one dollar ($1).
In some states, Americans in prison are forced to work—to the profit of private companies or the State—for no pay at all. This is legalized slavery, and it's grounded in the Constitution.
Changing the Constitution is hard. Very few attempts at amending our foundational document have succeeded. Accomplishing this is going to be a massive, uphill climb. But we can't say we're dismantling the legacy of slavery if we allow our governments to actively participate in and profit from it. We can't say we're dismantling the legacy of slavery if we're not even willing to try.
So here's my question to you:
Will you support my fight to amend the United States Constitution and end American slavery once and for all?
Yes, I support ending slavery in America
No, I need more information on the issue
Thank you for taking the time to read and respond. I look forward to hearing back.
-Jeff
