Slavery Is Not Dead

Despite the questionable things Kayne West has done in the last couple of years - becoming Trump's token of supposed African American support and getting entangled with the culture vulture Kardashians - he has done one thing right. That is, shed some much-needed light on the deceitful sham that is the 13th Amendment. He said it best, declaring that "the 13th Amendment is slavery in disguise," late September of 2018. Even though he later went on to mistakingly assert that "we [should] abolish the 13th amendment" entirely, the point he made was significant. Kayne's words struck up and have added to the current debate on whether or not the 13th Amendment has effectively ended slavery as well as what to do about it.

The specific clause of the amendment in question is this one: "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime...shall exist within the United States." As one can see, most forms of slavery are outlawed as a result of the 13th Amendment, except for one: when individuals are imprisoned. This loophole in the abolition of slavery across the United States has (since its ratification in 1865) effectively allowed Southern states with institutionalized and systematic racism to continue enslaving African Americans as if the Civil War never occurred. Through a process known as "convict leasing," Southern states would imprison African Americans on faulty, exaggerated charges, and forcibly send them to work as laborers on the same plantations they were enslaved on before. Nowadays, this insidious evil goes under a different name: "mass "incarceration. The United States has the largest prison population in the whole world, and it is no surprise that African Americans are the most significant section of inmates, which is once again is due to the loophole that the 13th Amendment is. These enslaved prisoners have been forced to work for private corporations with little to no pay for compensation.

There have been many calls to action and plans of attack in order to reverse the injustices that the 13th Amendment has caused, but I firmly believe that 2020 can be the start of Big-Prison's demise. And there is one man that is boldly leading the charge towards legitimate, lasting criminal justice reform in this country: Bernie Sanders. If Bernie is to be elected president, he will eliminate for-profit prisons, reduce prison sentences, expand the number of public defenders, and finally legalize the wrongfully demonized drug of marijuana. All these federal-level changes will begin to unravel the immense hold that the U.S. prison system has on the lives of many African Americans. Although successfully passing changes to the 13th Amendment is near impossible, this would be a massive leap for justice. Vote Bernie 2020.