federal
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ABOLITION AMENDMENT CO-SPONSORS

United States Representative Nikema Williams (GA): “The Abolition Amendment is one step closer to achieving true justice and equality for all. States are amending their constitutions to finally abolish slavery in all forms, and Congress will lead the way and finally abolish involuntary servitude in America....We are in a period of reckoning with our country’s history and a lot of that history is marked with racism and systems of oppression. Eliminating the loophole in the 13th Amendment that allows for slavery is another opportunity to do that.” Press Release, June 18, 2021
United States Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR): “This country was founded on the beautiful principles of equality and justice—principles that have never been compatible with the horrific realities of slavery and white supremacy....The loophole in our constitution’s ban on slavery not only allowed slavery to continue, but launched an era of discrimination and mass incarceration that continues to this day. To live up to our nation’s promise of justice for all, we must eliminate the Slavery Clause from our constitution.” Press Release, June 18, 2021
United States Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ): “This [exception] has allowed our government to exploit individuals who are incarcerated and to profit from their forced labor – perpetuating the oppression of Black Americans, mass incarceration, and systemic racism." Statement to ABC News, June 15, 2023

NEITHER JUNETEENTH NOR THE 13TH AMENDMENT COMPLETELY ABOLISHED SLAVERY AND INVOLUNTARY SERVITUDE IN THE UNITED STATES

“Juneteenth represents not only the commemoration of the end of slavery in America more than 150 years ago, but the ongoing work to have to bring true equity and racial justice into American society, which we can do.

“In short, this day doesn’t just celebrate the past; it calls for action today.” President Joe Biden, Remarks at the Signing of the Juneteenth National Independence Act, June 17, 2021

“The temptation on anniversary occasions like this is to prophesy smooth things, to be joyful and glad, to indulge in illusions of hope–to bring glad tidings on our tongues, and words of peace reveal.  But while I know it is easier to be the bearer of glad tidings than sad ones, while I know that hope is a powerful motive to exertion and high endeavor, while I know that people generally would rather look upon the bright side of their condition than to know the worst; there comes a time when it is best that the worst should be made known, and in my judgment that time, in respect to the condition of the colored people of the South, is now.” Frederick Douglass, “I Denounce the So-Called Emancipation as a Stupendous Fraud,” April 16, 1888.

AMENDMENT XIII

Section 1.
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Section 2.
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

 

Emphasis added.

FEDERAL COMMEMORATION of the 150th anniversary of the 13th amendment AND APOLOGy for enslavement and jim crow