Antiracism 101: So, You Just Found Out You're Racist-Day 23

13^th Amendment & School-to-Prison Pipeline

Did you know that slavery is still legal in the US? The 13^th Amendment of our Constitution, while seemingly ending slavery, actually ensures it. It’s baked right into our laws, but nobody seemed to notice. Well, the wrong people did notice it… “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment of crime…” Except…We have an exception for which slavery is still legal: People convicted of a crime and sent to prison can be slaves.

So, if you’re a racist living in a state where slavery has ended after the Civil War, but you still don’t want to live with or work with Black people, this exception to the rule is going to be a focal point for you. You’re going to work with other racists to use the system and make sure as many Black people as possible are convicted of crimes and imprisoned. Policing would be weaponized to over-police certain areas over others. Focusing on crimes in certain places that are overlooked in other areas. Sometimes it would be used to frame people, or force people into committing a crime in order to keep a racial power imbalance. And using the rest of the legal system to make it more difficult for Black and brown community members to escape punishment. This is what developed after the Civil War ended and the 13^th Amendment was enacted. To this day, it is still the system in force. Our laws are often applied more often and more harshly for Black and brown people, than for white people.

What is the “School-to-prison pipeline?” It’s another tool in the arsenal to imprison as many Black and brown people as possible. Starting at school age, Black children are held to higher standards than their white counterparts. They are more likely to be punished, suspended, and expelled than white children for the same behaviors that are overlooked in white children. Leaving young people without education opportunities severely limits their options later in life, setting them up to be more likely to commit crimes, and sent to prison. This is entirely by design…

Recommendations for further education:

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

I highly recommend this book, which helps spell out exactly how our system got to the point it's currently in. It's hard to refute when you know the facts and history. The question is, how do we undo it?

13th Documentary

Ava DuVernay's documentary on Netflix is eye-opening and educational and I can't recommend it highly enough. Please do yourself a favor and watch it.