Let’s launch a fight against a form of slavery that was never ended

On this Friday, all across America, African American communities are celebrating Juneteenth Day.

Juneteenth Day, which began in 1866, commemorates the date that freedom from slavery reached the furthest slave state, Texas. On June 19, 1865, two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation and almost two months after the end of the Civil War, slaves in Texas were declared free. June 19 is commonly thought of as the day slavery finally ended.

We should celebrate this momentous event in our history, but we should also use Juneteenth

Day 2020 to launch a new and desperately needed justice system reform. Why? Because slavery never ended in America.

The 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which is commonly thought to codify the elimination of slavery, has this clause: “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.”

After the Reconstruction period and during the Jim Crow era, this exception in the 13th Amendment was used to re-enslave as many as 1 million African Americans in the South. They were charged with various and often petty crimes and eventually contracted out to businesses into forced unpaid labor as the sentence.

Right now in America, inmates in five states are working with no pay. Many of them work for private-sector manufacturers and retailers, making consumer products that many of us unknowingly purchase. This is slavery in the 21st century.

Today, let us commit ourselves to righting this wrong. Every one of us should appeal to our representatives in Congress to pass legislation to ensure that anyone who works while incarcerated earns a minimum wage.

Even for those who are paid, the hourly wages can be as low as pennies per hour. A 15-minute phone call to family can cost more than $5. Over half of people incarcerated were poor prior to being incarcerated, and their family income reduces 22% while they are away. Their families bear the burden of sending money for phone calls and commissary purchases, even though the inmate may be employed while in prison.

Let’s pass a minimum wage law for the incarcerated and make Juneteenth Day 2021 a true celebration of the end of governmentsanctioned slavery in America.

Victor Dickson President and CEO, Safer Foundation