Except as a Punishment for Crime: Senato r Jeff Merkley Discusses New Bill to Redress the 13th Amendment

14-12-2020 • 24 mins

On this episode, we are joined by U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), who currently serves on the Senate Committees on Appropriations, Foreign Relations, Budget, and Environment and Public Works. The senator explains that the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolished most—but not all—slavery, permitting slavery or involuntary servitude “as a punishment for crime.” The punishment clause exception has led to the incarceration of millions of Black Americans since Reconstruction and continues to feed the current mass incarceration of people of color. Senator Jeff Merkley and Representative William Lacy Clay (D-MO-1) have introduced bicameral legislation to strike this clause in order to finally abolish slavey in the United States.

The hosts for this episode are Clint Odom, NUL Senior Vice President of Policy & Advocacy, and Toni Wiley, NUL Director of Advocacy.

From the National Urban League, For The Movement discusses persistent policy, social, and civil rights issues affecting communities of color.

Discussed in this episode:

National Urban League

Black

Black America

African-American

News

Information

Advocacy

Politics

13th Amendment