Although the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution formally abolished chattel slavery, it includes a legal loophole known as the “Punishment Clause” that permits the use of forced labor in this nation’s jails and prisons. Under the regime of post-13th Amendment prison slavery, corporations, federal and state governments, rather than private citizens, have become slaveholders. Mass incarceration and the disproportionate imprisonment of African- and Latinx- Americans have disenfranchised black and brown communities and denied them the opportunity to fully participate in society, as well as the right to housing, healthcare, food security, education and work that pays a living wage.
The Amend the 13th Movement and its coalition partners invite you to join us for a “Black August Roundtable on the 13th Amendment and Prison Slavery” in connection with the screening of The Farm: Angola U.S.A., a 1998 documentary about life behind the bars of Louisiana's notorious maximum-security prison, Angola, situated on an old slave plantation. The screening (link provided to those that RSVP in advance) and discussion will launch a program of events that will culminate on November 13, 2020 with a national convening, “Amend the 13th: A National Black People’s Assembly.”
RSVP Here
Submit Questions in Advance Here
About the Amend the 13th Movement
The Amend the 13th Movement is a national call for fresh and bold thinking about criminal law and policy. Amend the 13th centers and supports resistance to the violence, degradation, trauma, and dehumanization inflicted on communities that are targeted by America's unjust criminal punishment system. We invite all those who believe in democratic justice to join us in the constitutional campaign to abolish the Punishment Clause from the U.S. Constitution.