*Voters in five states will soon decide whether slavery in the form of prison labor should be prohibited.
A new abolitionist movement is pushing to reshape state constitutional amendments related to involuntary servitude. Advocates want antiquated language removed and new amendments added that make all work in prisons voluntary.
The midterm election ballots in Alabama, Louisiana, Oregon, Tennessee, and Vermont will let voters “decide on state constitutional amendments prohibiting slavery and involuntary servitude, in some cases except for work by incarcerated people reshape prison labor,” per Pewtrusts.com.
Since 2018, Colorado, Nebraska and Utah have approved similar ballot initiatives, according to the Pew report.
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Here’s more from the article:
The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1865, abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in the United States — except as publishment for someone convicted of a crime. The “exception clause” loophole led to repressive 19th-century laws in the South known as Black Codes that allowed authorities to incarcerate Black people for petty crimes, such as vagrancy, and then force them to work. Black Codes were a precursor to the Jim Crow laws outlawed by the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Prison reform advocates want to remove the exception clause from the 13th Amendment.
“We want to remove offensive language and provide protection for citizens from slavery and involuntary servitude,” Max Parthas, co-director of state operations of the Abolish Slavery National Network and co-host of a weekly online radio program, Abolition Today, said in an interview.
In about 20 states, slavery and involuntary servitude are allowed as punishments for crimes.
“The [state constitutional] amendment is more than symbolic,” said the Rev. Mark Hughes of Burlington, Vermont, executive director of Abolish Slavery Vermont and Justice for All Vermont, organizations that seek to end systemic racism in the state, per pewtrust.com “Vermont has permitted slavery longer than any other state — for 245 years. What that means is no constitution allowed slavery in any state before Vermont,” he said.
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