The 13th Amendment

The 13th Amendment, we are taught, abolished slavery. Hooray! Rejoice! All is well!

But in fact the 13th Amendment says this: "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."

And thus began the loop hole to the continued killing of black lives.

Today I watched Ava DuVernay's documentary called The 13th.

In it she covers the political history from slavery to today's mass incarceration which is a lot of what I have been posting about. What I didn't know was that N*gger turned to Criminal all the way back at the time of the 13th amendment. It is NOT a new idea.

Today is also Martin Luther King Jr. Day in America. What's ironic about that is how MLK Jr. was seen by this country, not as a hero, but as a public enemy - in the same way Jesus was seen as a public enemy to Rome. MLK Jr. was hated and wanted by the FBI. He publicly opposed the Vietnam War and declared a war on poverty. We know him now was a Civil Rights hero who died before his time. We celebrate him for his accomplishments with the Civil Rights Movement. What we don't remember is his stance on the war or poverty, because America did NOT want his voice heard on those issues, too, and they made sure he was silenced. He had a dream indeed and it was not the American Dream.

Just as MLK Jr. was an advocate for Civil Rights - for Human Rights - so is Black Lives Matter in today's world.

Did you know that in 2013 the Supreme Court dismantled the Voting Rights Act that the Civil Rights Movement fought and died to put in place in 1965?

The Voting Rights Act was said to be no longer needed and some even said that the Obama administration was proof that our country is no longer racist.

Yet immediately after the changes were made, multiple states moved to change voting laws, which you bet affected the 2016 election.

The biggest changes with the most negative affects are voter ID requirements and the redrawing of districts. This article here explains so much more about this than I can go into here, but I thought it important to note just how "far" we've come since the Civil Rights Movement.

"Colorblind" America wants us to say the Civil Rights Movement was a success. Period. They don't want us to think about what is left to accomplish! They don't want us to continue to organize and create new movements like Black Lives Matter! They want us to live in an illusion. To be undereducated. To NOT ask too many questions. To go with the flow.

Yes - the Civil Rights Movement was a success, full of heroic stories. But there is a lot of terror and a lot of death involved. Terror and death that still remains to this day. There is still so much to do.

We owe it to those whom we remember in glory.

We owe it to those whom have been victims of state violence and injustice across time.

We owe it to the black lives of today. The brown lives. The LGBTQ lives.

We owe it to ourselves.

We owe it to humanity.

This is a human problem. This is not a BLACK problem - this is a human problem!

I cannot say it enough - we are all human.

If you have Netflix - watch The 13th documentary. Please.

If you don't.... eh, sign up for a 1 month free subscription!

Until then, here are the lyrics of the closing song of that documentary that I found to be very powerful - A Letter to the Free, by Common

Southern leaves, southern trees we hung from Barren souls, heroic songs unsung Forgive them Father they know this knot is undone Tied with the rope that my grandmother died Pride of the pilgrims affect lives of millions Since slave days separating, fathers from children Institution ain't just a building But a method, of having black and brown bodies fill them We ain't seen as human beings with feelings Will the U.S. ever be us? Lord willing! For now we know, the new Jim Crow They stop, search and arrest our souls Police and policies patrol philosophies of control A cruel hand taking hold We let go to free them so we can free us America's moment to come to Jesus [Bilal:] Freedom (Freedom) Freedom come (Freedom come) Hold on (Hold on) Won't be long (Won't be long) Freedom (Freedom) Freedom come (Freedom come) Hold on (Hold on) Won't be long (Won't be long) [Common:] The caged birds sings for freedom to bring Black bodies being lost in the American dream Blood of black being, a pastoral scene Slavery's still alive, check Amendment 13 Not whips and chains, all subliminal Instead of 'nigga' they use the word 'criminal' Sweet land of liberty, incarcerated country Shot me with your ray-gun And now you want to trump me Prison is a business, America's the company Investing in injustice, fear and long suffering We staring in the face of hate again The same hate they say will make America great again No consolation prize for the dehumanized For America to rise it's a matter of Black Lives And we gonna free them, so we can free us America's moment to come to Jesus