Racial Justice Action from your UUFH Allies for Racial Equity (ARE) Team

Check out their website and see if any of their activities interest you. www.uuare.org

Racial Justice Action 3/10/2021

The Abolition Amendment

The 13th Amendment abolished slavery after the Civil War—but not for all. Lawmakers left a loophole, also known as the “Punishment Clause,” within the Amendment that outlawed slavery “except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.” As a result, slavery was not outlawed in prisons. “Slavery is our nation’s original sin and this loophole has been exploited for far too long to criminalize Black and Brown Americans,” Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley said.  Legalized slavery has bent the American criminal justice system, fanned the flames of mass incarceration, and stripped millions of people— particularly Black Americans and people of color—of their most basic human rights.

A joint resolution dubbed the Abolition Amendment, introduced by Democrats in the House and Senate, seeks to remove the “punishment” clause from the amendment. 

Read the press release from Senator Merkley and Representative William Lacy Clay (D-MO-1).