In the past few days, I have had quite a few conversations with some of my peers in my residence hall about the law as a broad concept. In discussing the topic with people much more well-informed on the issue than myself, it is truly incredible how much there is to learn about the truth behind laws and statues that make up our lives. On its surface, many of the laws we think we have a firm grasp on and are taught in our 11th or 12th grade government or civics class may appear to be noble on their surface, though I have found that further investigation and deeper digging on a topic can usually expose a person to an entirely new narrative.
Perhaps the most dubious part of the original and early Constitution was the interpretation and guidance that it possessed on the issue of slavery and indentured servitude. Of course, there is no more heinous and blatantly nefarious part of United States history than the issue of slavery and racial bias. The period stretching from 1850 (see the Compromise of 1850) to the late 1960s was essentially characterized by the violence towards African Americans and the fight to obtain equality. Many of us, myself included, are taught that although the formal and legally recognized structure of slavery was killed with the 13th Amendment in 1865, racial bias certainly still existed long into the 20th Century in the Jim Crow Southern United States.
Despite this, I would argue that although we no longer see highly politicized and heinous displays like that described in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the presence of slavery in the United States is alive and well in an officially legalized sense. In fact, it is as clear as day upon considering the actual wording within the 13th Amendment. It says:
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.
Except as a punishment for a crime? Many of you reading this may be thinking that the presence of such a clause (called the Punishment Clause) is absurd (though I presume that if anyone is reading this at all you are simply skimming for key words to get a 3 line comment at the end, which is okay too). Such a statement allows for the state to benefit from legalized slave labor, which in turn provides an incentive to increase the number of arrests so as to provide low to no cost employment for the state. While this marginally benefits taxpayers, the actual social and economic costs of increasing incarceration certainly outweigh the possible positives… so why do we do it?
Well, much of this occurrence goes back to the Virginia Supreme Court’s statement that prisoners are “slaves of the state” in 1871, just six years after slavery and involuntary servitude were ‘abolished’ by the 13th Amendment. Pair this with the fact that black men are six times more likely to be incarcerated than white men and the presence of this clause seems to do nothing but hurt already marginalized groups. There are countless instances of black men and women sent to solitary confinement and then put to work for speaking out and those same groups quite literally sent to work on “penal plantations” to do the same type of work as their ancestors. This is truly slavery with a new face. A makeover for the modern world.
At first I was wondering where you were going with the topic; I was thinking that it would just be about white supremacists. This post, however, was so eye-opening. I’ve never thought of the fact that labor as punishment is actually allowed; it was never really elaborated in school for me. (Thinking now, people who pick up trash from alongside the road are often prisoners doing “volunteer” work… but it is obligatory. Maybe I’m just overthinking it.)
I don’t know how, with so many equality movements, this isn’t talked about more. I am happy you brought attention to such an important topic.
This is a very cool post, as it is with the rest of them. It is truly mind opening and makes you really do some thinking. Its great that you wrote about this, because in this day and age its hard to find info that is on a truly meaningful and priority topic.