Activism
OPINION: Juneteenth is a Chance for Faith Leaders to Address Modern Slavery
the prohibition of slavery in the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the 1st Amendment of the California Constitution have exceptions with regards to people duly convicted of crimes. People continue to be subjected to involuntary servitude in California and are as invisible as the enslaved people met by Union General Gordon Granger in 1865. I question the moral implications of the state and federal governments’ ongoing practice of slavery; it is one thing to punish and another to be entitled to enslave.
By Dorsey Nunn
I hope this letter finds you in the loving embrace and grace of the God of your understanding. I am writing you as a former slave of the State of California. As Juneteenth approaches, I thought I would reach out to you in hopes of influencing and inspiring faith leaders to speak to their congregations about the issue of current day slavery on the week of June 12. Juneteenth has been adopted as a federal holiday—one that has been celebrated in the African American community since 1865. On June 19, 1865, in Galveston, Texas, the Union soldiers arrived, led by General Gordon Granger. They freed enslaved people that had been held in bondage almost two years after the Jan. 1, 1863 signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.
Despite this alleged freedom, the prohibition of slavery in the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the 1st Amendment of the California Constitution have exceptions with regards to people duly convicted of crimes. People continue to be subjected to involuntary servitude in California and are as invisible as the enslaved people met by Union General Gordon Granger in 1865. I question the moral implications of the state and federal governments’ ongoing practice of slavery; it is one thing to punish and another to be entitled to enslave.
A couple of weeks ago while sitting in a church listening to a minister preach about Moses, I wondered why current enslavement was invisible. Why can’t people see current day slavery? Why can’t they see people being forced to work on the side of freeways as current day slaves? Why can’t they see people being forced to work in parks, shoring up levees in the valley, fighting forest fires and countless other jobs extracted through threats and punishment by the state as current day slaves? Moreover, why can’t they see people being rented out to corporations by the state and traded on the stock exchange as current day slaves? I do not believe people can volunteer at gunpoint or while imprisoned. I wonder if Moses showed up today if we could really see him or his enslaved parents.
The narrative associated with right and wrong is so potent that it renders people indifferent. People assume because it is legal, it must be just and it must be right. History has more than enough examples where laws were proven to be unjust over the course of time. Chattel slavery is just one of those examples.
If Assembly Constitution Amendment 3 passes in the California Senate, the issue of whether prisoners should be enslaved will be put on the California ballot for a vote. If it is put on the ballot for a vote, it will be the first time in multiple generations that the California electorate will have the opportunity to vote on anything regarding slavery. I believe faith leaders will get a chance to ask themselves and their congregations, “What would Moses do if given an opportunity to vote on the issue of slavery?”
Ultimately, if the historic ACA3 winds up on the ballot, I want to offer my formerly incarcerated staff and All of Us or None members to speak or lead discussions on this most important political and moral issue. People could see my incarceration, but they still have not caught up with the notion of my enslavement.
