TOGETHER WE CAN ABOLISH SLAVERY FOR ALL!
Slavery is an evil that has loomed over our nation since its founding. Passed in 1865, the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is celebrated for abolishing slavery and involuntary servitude. However, to the surprise of many, the 13th Amendment includes an exception clause that has been understood throughout history to allow slavery and involuntary servitude to be used as punishment for crime. During Reconstruction, this understanding encouraged the criminalization, incarceration, and re-enslavement of Black people.
Still today, more than 150 years later, people who are incarcerated and detained across our country are disproportionately Black and brown and forced to work for pennies an hour to no pay at all under the threat of additional punitive measures, such as the loss of family visits and solitary confinement.
It’s time to unequivocally make the evils of slavery and involuntary servitude history, once and for all.
We must pass the
Abolition Amendment
— sponsored by Senators Jeff Merkley (OR) and Cory Booker (NJ) and Congresswoman Nikema Williams (GA-05) —
to end the exception!
At just the age of 23, Britt White was ripped from her community in Georgia after being arrested for a victimless cannabis trafficking offense in rural Alabama. She would be incarcerated for 5 years.
During that time, Britt, like many incarcerated individuals, had to work for little pay and while having 60% of her earnings taken by the prison system.
Britt is now a decarceration activist and participated in #ExceptForMe, part of the #EndTheException campaign to abolish slavery for all.
Take action at endtheexception.com.
