US Lawmakers Unveil Anti-Slavery Constitutional Amendment

December 4, 2020by Aaron Morrison, Associated Press
US Lawmakers Unveil Anti-Slavery Constitutional Amendment
The signature of president Abraham Lincoln on a rare, restored copy of the 13th Amendment that ended slavery, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

NEW YORK (AP) — National lawmakers introduced a joint resolution Wednesday aimed at striking language from the U.S. Constitution that enshrines a form of slavery in America’s foundational documents.

The resolution, spearheaded and supported by Democratic members of the House and Senate, would amend the 13th Amendment’s ban on chattel enslavement to expressly prohibit involuntary servitude as a punishment for crime. As ratified, the original amendment has permitted exploitation of labor by convicted felons for over 155 years since the abolition of slavery.

The 13th Amendment “continued the process of a white power class gravely mistreating Black Americans, creating generations of poverty, the breakup of families and this wave of mass incarceration that we still wrestle with today,” Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon told The Associated Press ahead of the resolution’s introduction.

A House version is led by outgoing Rep. William Lacy Clay, of St. Louis, who said the amendment “seeks to finish the job that President (Abraham) Lincoln started.”

It would “eliminate the dehumanizing and discriminatory forced labor of prisoners for profit that has been used to drive the over-incarceration of African Americans since the end of the Civil War,” Clay said.

In the Senate, the resolution has Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland signed on as co-sponsors. “This change to the 13th Amendment will finally, fully rid our nation of a form of legalized slavery,” Van Hollen said in an emailed statement.

Constitutional amendments are rare and require approval by two-thirds of the House and Senate, as well as ratification by three-quarters of state legislatures. Should the proposal fail to move out of committee in the remaining weeks of the current Congress, Merkley said he hoped to revive it next year.

The effort has been endorsed by more than a dozen human rights and social justice organizations, including The Sentencing Project, the Anti-Recidivism Coalition and Color of Change.

“It is long past time that Congress excise this language from the U.S. Constitution which should begin to put an end to the abusive practices derived from it,” said Laura Pitter, deputy director of the U.S. program at Human Rights Watch, which also endorsed the amendment.

The proposed amendment comes nearly one month after voters in Nebraska and Utah approved initiatives amending their state constitutions to remove language that allows slavery and involuntary servitude as criminal punishments. In 2018, Colorado was among the first U.S. states to remove such language by ballot measure.

Although nearly half of state constitutions do not mention human bondage or prison labor as punishment, just over 20 states still include such clauses in governing documents that date back to the 19th century abolition of slavery.

In Merkley’s Oregon, voters in 2002 approved the elimination of constitutional language that prohibited Black Americans from living in the state unless they were enslaved.

He said the movement toward a federal amendment is “kind of saying to the world, let’s not forget this big piece of injustice that’s sitting squarely in the middle of our Constitution, as we wrestle with criminal justice reform.”

Many Americans will recognize modern-day prison labor as chain gangs deployed from prison facilities for agricultural and infrastructure work. The prevalence of prison labor has been largely accepted as a means for promoting rehabilitation, teaching trade skills and reducing idleness among prisoners.

But the practice has a much darker history. Following the abolition of slavery, Southern states that lost the literal backbone of their economies began criminalizing formerly enslaved Black men and women for offenses as petty as vagrancy or having unkempt children.

This allowed legal re-enslavement of African Americans, who were no longer seen as sympathetic victims of inhumane bondage, said Michele Goodwin, a constitutional law professor at the University of California, Irvine.

“These people became criminals, and it became very difficult for many abolitionists to use the same kinds of emotional messaging about the humanity of these individuals,” Goodwin said.

Today, incarcerated workers, many of them making pennies on the dollar, work in plants, manufacturing clothing, assembling furniture and even battling wildfires across the U.S., much of it to the benefit of large corporations, governments and communities where they’ve historically been unwelcome upon release.

Researchers have estimated the minimum annual value of prison labor commodities at $2 billion, derived largely through a system of convict leasing that leaves these workers without the legal protections and benefits that Americans are otherwise entitled to.

And while prison work is largely optional for the 2.2 million individuals incarcerated in the U.S., it’s a grave mistake to disassociate their labor from the original intent of the penal system, Goodwin said.

“Your freedom has been taken away — that’s the punishment that society has assigned,” she said. “The punishment is not that you do slave work, that is unpaid labor or barely paid labor.”

A+
a-
  • civil rights
  • constitutional amendment
  • Slavery
  • U.S. Constitution
  • In The News

    Health

    Voting

    Civil Rights

    College Swimmers, Volleyball Players Sue NCAA Over Transgender Policies

    ATLANTA (AP) — Former Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines was among more than a dozen college athletes who filed a lawsuit... Read More

    ATLANTA (AP) — Former Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines was among more than a dozen college athletes who filed a lawsuit against the NCAA on Thursday, accusing it of violating their Title IX rights by allowing transgender woman Lia Thomas to compete at the national championships in... Read More

    March 6, 2024
    by Natalie McCormick
    Lawmaker Trying to End Missouri’s Ban on Divorce for Pregnant Women

    JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – A state lawmaker from Kansas City is trying to overturn a longstanding law in Missouri that... Read More

    JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – A state lawmaker from Kansas City is trying to overturn a longstanding law in Missouri that prevents pregnant women from getting a divorce. As it currently appears on the books, the law bars judges from finalizing a request for a divorce or... Read More

    January 29, 2024
    by Dan McCue
    HHS Civil Rights Office Issues Guidance on Religious Non-Discrimination

    WASHINGTON — The Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights has issued guidance to U.S. hospital and... Read More

    WASHINGTON — The Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights has issued guidance to U.S. hospital and long-term care facility administrators, reminding them of their facility’s obligation not to discriminate on the basis of religion. The warning comes at a tense time across... Read More

    Florida Republicans Oust State Party Chairman Facing Rape Allegations

    TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The Republican Party of Florida ousted Chairman Christian Ziegler in a special vote on Monday as... Read More

    TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The Republican Party of Florida ousted Chairman Christian Ziegler in a special vote on Monday as police investigate a rape accusation against him, a vote that came the week before Gov. Ron DeSantis competes in Iowa’s first-in-the-nation presidential caucus. The party suspended Ziegler last month and... Read More

    Ohio’s GOP Governor Vetoes Ban on Gender-Affirming Care and Transgender Athletes in Girls' Sports

    COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine vetoed a measure Friday that would have banned gender-affirming care for minors, casting... Read More

    COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine vetoed a measure Friday that would have banned gender-affirming care for minors, casting the action out of step with many in his own party as thoughtful, limited and “pro-life.” He simultaneously announced plans to move to administratively ban transgender... Read More

    December 13, 2023
    by Dan McCue
    Supreme Court to Review Abortion Medication Dispute

    WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court announced Wednesday that it will review a dispute over the popular abortion medication mifepristone, a... Read More

    WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court announced Wednesday that it will review a dispute over the popular abortion medication mifepristone, a move that could have a sweeping impact not only on its use going forward, but also on the regulatory authority of the Food and Drug Administration.... Read More

    News From The Well
    scroll top