NDN Collective’s Post

Passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified on December 6, 1865, the 13th Amendment is often hailed as the end of slavery in the United States. However, the truth is far more complex. As of this week in 2024, Legalized Slavery has persisted in the U.S. for another 159 years under various names. From convict leasing to sharecropping, debt peonage to mass incarceration, and private prisons to warehousing bodies for profit – slavery endures, camouflaged by different disguises. Slavery wasn't abolished; it was reformed. The 13th Amendment transferred the power to own individuals as property from individuals to the state, violating international human rights agreements and our constitutional assumptions. Our justice system has become a revenue generator, and prisons function as economic development programs, all at the cost of human lives and freedoms. But change is happening. Seven states have abolished slavery since 2018, starting with Colorado. In 2024, over 18 states are working to eliminate existing slavery exception clauses. A joint federal resolution is on the table to repeal and replace the 13th Amendment without exceptions. The Abolish Slavery National Network is leading the charge. Through state-by-state voter initiatives and a federal joint resolution, The Abolition Amendment (H.J. Res.53), we are working towards the final solution to end slavery in law and practice. Join us in shaping a future where freedom prevails. #EndSlavery #AbolishSlavery #AbolitionNation #HumanRights #ClassOf2024 #H.J.Res.53

Passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified on December 6, 1865, the 13th Amendment is often hailed as the end of slavery in the United States. However, the truth is far more complex. As of this week in 2024, Legalized Slavery has persisted in the U.S. for another 159 years under various names. From convict leasing to sharecropping, debt peonage to mass incarceration, and private prisons to warehousing bodies for profit – slavery endures, camouflaged by different disguises. Slavery wasn't abolished; it was reformed. The 13th Amendment transferred the power to own individuals as property from individuals to the state, violating international human rights agreements and our constitutional assumptions. Our justice system has become a revenue generator, and prisons function as economic development programs, all at the cost of human lives and freedoms. But change is happening. Seven states have abolished slavery since 2018, starting with Colorado. In 2024, over 18 states are working to eliminate existing slavery exception clauses. A joint federal resolution is on the table to repeal and replace the 13th Amendment without exceptions. The Abolish Slavery National Network is leading the charge. Through state-by-state voter initiatives and a federal joint resolution, The Abolition Amendment (H.J. Res.53), we are working towards the final solution to end slavery in law and practice. Join us in shaping a future where freedom prevails. #EndSlavery #AbolishSlavery #AbolitionNation #HumanRights #ClassOf2024 #H.J.Res.53

With roughly 12,000 - 15,000 people in jails across Michigan that lack access to the electoral process; it is important to not only etch out accessibility to an election for this demographic but also provide the needed education. FAIR Voting Alliance, with the support of several voting advocacy groups has organized a candidate forum for the U.S. Senate and 8th Congressional seats at the GENESEE COUNTY JAIL on July 11th. It is paramount that candidate information is shared broadly to support the education of voters. This is also important for voters who reside in jails in Michigan as non-sentenced detainees who can vote through an absentee ballot process from jail. The candidate forum doesn’t reflect an endorsement from FAIR Voting Alliance or the Genesee County Jail, any department or entity of the county, or any of the advocacy groups; it reflects the commitment to responsibly educate and inform voters detained in jail and all voters on the people, legislation, proposals, and information on a ballot. For more information, please contact Percy Glover, MSA, BA, percy.glover@outlook.com. #JailBasedVoting #VotingFromJail #MeetTheCandidates #VotingIsConstitutional

📫 A message from REFORM’s legendary Gen Z Organizer: Rondo Bonilla ➡️ “Thank you for joining me in this fight. As we head into election season, it’s critical for us to raise our voices and advocate for justice reform nationwide. This issue is deeply personal to me because not that long ago, I was incarcerated on Rikers Island in New York City, one of the most violent jails in the country. I was just 18 years old when I first got locked up and saw firsthand that rather than giving people tools to get better, the criminal justice system hurts people who have already been through so much pain and trauma. That’s why I joined REFORM. Because we are working to fix that by creating pathways to work, stability, and well-being for people impacted by prisons, probation, and parole. REFORM has already passed 18 bipartisan bills in 11 states that will help 800,000+ people exit the system. And good news - instead of letting politics divide us, Republicans and Democrats are teaming up RIGHT NOW behind the Safer Supervision Act to focus on what makes sense for all of us.” #genzdayofaction 🚀 Learn more: https://lnkd.in/dMpViXyy

Join us on April 10 for Part II of our Race & Abolition Discussion Series: Prison as a Border. Register at bit.ly/april10abolition or at the link in our bio. How is the prison a border? How do global forces shape the dynamics of incarceration and punishment in the United States? How can scholars ethically relate to prisons as sites that reproduce hierarchies of race, gender, class, and geography? This discussion uses Angela Davis’ & Gina Dent’s published conversation, “Prison as a Border: A Conversation on Gender, Globalization, and Punishment,” as the starting ground to address these questions. Dent and Davis discuss the history of studying prisons as well as the productive tensions between feminist and abolitionist paradigms for thinking and researching. Using the transcript of this conversation, we will discuss the global politics of incarceration, the role and limitations of scholarship in carceral settings, and the gendered forms of domination that emerge in carceral settings. This program is presented by the Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture and Beyond Prisons at the University of Chicago, and co-sponsored by International House.

A great piece and excellent primer on receivership.

Such a pivotal decision carries lasting consequences. It will shape legal precedents, influence future rulings, and affect the judiciary’s crucial role in balancing legal principles with societal evolution. These decisions don’t just resolve cases; they chart the future of legal norms and societal values. #madoc #doc #ma #mytern #teji

The problem is not your blueprint. But you ask the right question - what decade? The main issue is this is a bandwagon so large it seems that even in an age of division and dysfunction that it is one place our lawmakers find a seat no matter their political bent. Call it a twisted "New York State of Mind." Few people with opinions in general or on the Lippman Commission specifically have the least bit of experience in jailing. The monitor in NY has a twice vested interest in continuing down the rabbit hole as the class - plaintiffs former lawyer and now someone raking in so much money it is beyond cavil. Perception and reality are often two different things. But this is a decades old issue. It hardly is a new problem. As groundbreaking Jurist Anna M. Kross noted during her 13 year tenure at Rikers - jail is not always appropriate for the young, indigent, mentally ill, sex workers, or those addicted to drugs or alcohol. And yet who still populates the NYC Jail system? I wish you all the best in bridging the gaps between the ignorant who also happen to be the loudest and perhaps most dangerously, the ones with the power of the purse to make things happen. Just look at all the Real Estate folks on the Lippman commission and follow the money. Its a good start and will answer some questions people find uncomfortable in this dialogue about Rikers.

For the twelve days of Christmas, here is number 3 of the "12 studies of note" that are must-reads over the holidays.  From the Council for Court Excellence Jails & Justice: Tracking Change, July 2023: "This report comes at a critical time when policymakers are attempting to introduce and pass legislation to address public safety issues in the District without adequate research or community engagement, proposing reforms that would expand the District’s criminal legal system footprint and infringe upon the due process rights of its citizens. This report card reviewed the Jails & Justice Task Force recommendations -- plans to rightsize the DC justice system-- that were slated to be implemented in Fiscal Years (FY) 2021 and 2022, and found that only two (or roughly 2%) of the 77 recommendations reviewed were fully implemented by the District." Council for Court Excellence. https://lnkd.in/e27xDVMZ

Read about the new Racial Justice Act Tool from Paper Prisons in our latest blog post. https://lnkd.in/gam6AMfR