We can no longer allow the 13th Amendment of the US Constitution to codify a carceral system that dehumanizes citizens of America by reducing them from being seen and referred to as "named" human beings to a "numbered" piece of property, referred to as slaves.  Justice-involved individuals are always citizens and humans first and should be allowed to retain the dignity and rights afforded as such.  I am calling upon Congress to act now!

America's criminal justice system, as a form of structural violence, is not about public safety as professed. Its roots originating in slavery, moving from slave and black codes through to codes of legislation throughout this country, have always been about protecting property of the wealthy.  Politics was simply used to distribute wealth. Prosperity in a capitalist economic system has exploitation at its core.  If we are to fulfill the doctrine of the Bill of Rights or even the tenets of the 14th amendment and 15th amendment defining citizenship and speaking against disenfranchisement, then we must cut out the weeds of mass incarceration so that the grass of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness will become self-evident for all, that freedom might thrive.

America prides itself on being a nation of both first and second chances, yet our criminal justice system and the collateral consequences suffered once one returns home from imprisonment, attests to a different reality often plagued by stigma and lack of opportunities.  The US is not as forgiving as those in power often profess. The perpetual punishment resulting from being locked out of society as a result of being locked up is far-reaching.  Being let out of prison is not a guarantee that you will be let back into society and allowed to be a productive citizen. This self-fulfilling prophecy is the root cause of recidivism, a phenomenon that costs this country greatly by any measure.  Now that persons with records are 1 out of 3 Americas, how can we discard and discount 100 million people?  Why are we comfortable with leading the world as the leading carceral nation?

When I sat in a district court in Virginia I remember seeing the state's flag alongside the American flag. The background was blue and had an image of an Amazon looking woman representing Virtue/Liberty/Justice, holding a spear and sword with her foot on the chest of a man lying on his back with a crown fallen to the side of him representing tyranny.  Underneath that image was a Latin phrase "Sic Semper Tyrannis" meaning "death to tyrants."  Additionally, I did some research during the trial and found out that those same symbols were carried on the flag of the first black Civil War regiment.  Therefore, It is in that spirit, that I am calling upon Lady Justice and my warrior ancestors to strengthen us as we fight to get the foot of injustice, militarism, and oppression, and off of the necks of America's citizens, by amending the 13th Amendment by removing the language allowing persons convicted to be enslaved and treated as such on both sides correctional fences!  It is time that public safety no longer is used as a scapegoat supporting a  criminal justice system that is functioning as intended- to marginalize targeted populations in the name of the law. Let the foot of structural violence and its many forms to include racism, be removed from the necks of the justice-involved and all other vulnerable populations that we might breathe, and live a peaceful life called the American dream and not the reality of its nightmare!!