Voting Rights

January Is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month – Black Girl Nerds
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January Is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month – Black Girl Nerds

The United Nations defines slavery as the status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised. In other words: a person forced to work against their will and who cannot leave because they are threatened, beaten, or otherwise hurt. Human trafficking is…

Success of ‘Slavery on the Ballot’ Vote Could Help Incarcerated Pregnant People
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Success of ‘Slavery on the Ballot’ Vote Could Help Incarcerated Pregnant People

This story was originally published by The 19th. During the midterm elections, five states — Alabama, Oregon, Vermont, Louisiana, and Tennessee — put to vote initiatives purported to prohibit the use of slavery and indentured servitude as a punishment for crime, an antiquated allowance given by the 13th Amendment 157 years ago this month that…

Success of ‘slavery on the ballot’ measures could help incarcerated pregnant people of color
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Success of ‘slavery on the ballot’ measures could help incarcerated pregnant people of color

Originally published by The 19th During the midterm elections, five states — Alabama, Oregon, Vermont, Louisiana, and Tennessee — put to vote initiatives purported to prohibit the use of slavery and indentured servitude as a punishment for crime, an antiquated allowance given by the 13th Amendment 157 years ago this month that prisons across the country still…

How a Jim Crow-era strategy blocked 4.6 million people from voting in 2022
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How a Jim Crow-era strategy blocked 4.6 million people from voting in 2022

Reading Time: 8 minutes A type of law first created after the end of slavery to prohibit Black men from voting prevented more than 4.6 million Americans from participating in the 2022 midterm elections. Forty-eight states strip voting rights from people convicted of felonies, no small decision in the country with the highest incarceration rate…

What’s at stake in the 2022 midterm election? Here’s everything to watch before Election Day.
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What’s at stake in the 2022 midterm election? Here’s everything to watch before Election Day.

Midterm elections: How they work and why they’re important This year’s midterms are the first chance for Americans to grade Joe Biden and congressional Democrats on how they’ve been running the country for the past two years. Typically midterms don’t go well for the party in power, and Democrats are defending razor-thin majorities in Congress, as one-third of…

The Perils and Promise of America’s Third Reconstruction
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The Perils and Promise of America’s Third Reconstruction

Credit – Illustration by Ajubel Studio for TIME W.E.B. Du Bois is perhaps best known for introducing the term “double consciousness” into the lexicon of the Black experience. The term described the duality of being a Black American—neither fully African nor completely American, an enduring “problem” to be fought over in times of war and…

There is a serious forced labor problem in the United States
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There is a serious forced labor problem in the United States

Genocide, slave trade, forced labor and other evil acts are the undeniable original human rights sins in the history of American colonialism and capitalism. From the slaughter and enslavement of Native American Indians by early European colonists, to the exploitation of black slaves under the prevailing slave trade in the 18th century, to the systematic…

How To End Prison Labor Exploitation And Invest In Incarcerated People
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How To End Prison Labor Exploitation And Invest In Incarcerated People

A group of inmates walk in leg chains under supervision on a road near the South Florida Reception… [+] Center, a maximum security prison, in Miami Tuesday, Nov. 21, 1995. (AP Photo/Daniel Portnoy) On July 31, the California Department of Corrections tweeted, “Today, more than 2,000 volunteer inmate firefighters, including 58 youth offenders, are battling…

How To End Prison Labor Exploitation And Invest In Incarcerated People
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How To End Prison Labor Exploitation And Invest In Incarcerated People

On July 31, the California Department of Corrections tweeted, “Today, more than 2,000 volunteer inmate firefighters, including 58 youth offenders, are battling wildfire flames throughout CA. Inmate firefighters serve a vital role, clearing thick brush down to bare soil to stop the fire’s spread.” Fifty-eight youth battling wildfire flames. In a practice that dates to…