Monthly Archives: July 2021

This article first appeared on Prism Reports.

While the 13th Amendment abolished chattel slavery, an often ignored clause still allows for slavery and involuntary servitude as punishment for a crime. This slavery clause is now the target of #EndTheException, a new campaign launched this year on Juneteenth weekend. #EndTheException is pushing for the passage of theAbolition Amendment, a joint resolution cosponsored by Sen. Jeff Merkley and Rep. Nikema Williams, which would strike the slavery clause from the 13th Amendment making it so that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude may be imposed as a punishment for a crime.

On Saturday, June 19, as communities across the country celebrated Juneteentha long celebrated holiday by Black Americans, particularly Black TexansMerkley and Williams joined advocates from groups including WorthRises, LatinoJustice PRLDF, JustLeadershipUSA, and the Anti-Recidivism Coalition for an online discussion about the #EndTheException campaign and to explain how the promise of freedom has yet to be unfulfilled.

The average incarcerated worker earns 86 cents per hour, and yet in five statesAlabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, and Texaslaborers inside earn nothing. Jorge Renaud, the national criminal justice director for LatinoJustice PRLDF, was incarcerated in Texas for 27 years. For 13 years, he experienced not just the painful labor of fieldworkchopping trees and picking cotton, sorghum, and cornbut also retaliation when refusing to work.

[It was] two years into my last sentenceI had a 60-year sentence, Renaud said, I thought I was going to die in prison and I drew a line. I said, There are some things Im not going to do for you all. I dont care what you do to me. So Im working out in the fields and I threw my aggy [grubbing hoe] up in the air and I was lucky they didnt shoot me. They said, Youre not going to work? and I said, Im not going out in the fields for yall, and they put me in solitary for a couple of years.

Renaud spoke of how prisons force incarcerated laborers to work any type of job assigned to them, and how protesting such work will inevitably lead to being assigned more brutal jobs, more degrading jobs until you finally end up in solitary confinement. [Then] you dont have to work but now youre in there with nothing: no privileges, no commissary, no visitation, no nothing.

The inclusion of the slavery clause made the passage of restrictions targeting Black people like theBlack Codespossible as well as convict leasing of the late 19th century. Its important not to erase the unique horrors faced by those who were enslaved and those who are currently or formerly incarcerated, but the fact is that the slavery clause helped enable the current system of prison labor where incarcerated people are forced to work for both the state as well as private companies for little to no pay.

Recent years have brought more attention to how private companies make up a small portion of those who benefit from incarcerated laboronly roughly 1% of incarcerated laborers are employed by private companies and about 6% of imprisoned workers are employed by state agencies who task them with jobs including manufacturing furniture for public colleges, making hand sanitizer, or washing scrubs and linens for state hospitals. In truth, the overwhelming majority of work performed by incarcerated laborers involves facility maintenancea fact that panelist Deanna Hoskins, president and CEO of JustLeadership USA, came to understand years after her own incarceration in Ohio where she was not paid at all for her labor.

I thought it was an incentive, Hoskins said. We take these jobs thinking, Ill work in the kitchen to get extra food, or Ill work in the laundry to get out of the current pod and not be in the chaos.

It wasnt until Hoskins went to work for a Department of Corrections that she understood whose labor was actually keeping the facilities operating. The state was effectively undercutting their employee budget by having incarcerated individuals staff services like laundry, landscaping, working in the kitchen, custodial work, janitorial work, gardening, and so on.

Even down to state departments actually used womens prisons as their call centers to alleviate them from having to pay for that, Hoskins said.

In Texas, Renaud pointed out, the type of work provided to those inside also varies tremendously based on race. Black and Latinx people are often assigned to these more custodial positions while their white peers are more likely to get jobs that enable them to acquire more technical skills.

I once took a tour about five years ago, Renaud said. I took some legislators down to a prison in TDCJ where they [offered] computer refurbishing. They had some 47 people in there [working on computers] and there were two Black individuals and like three Latinos. That job at least could give you some technical expertise [so that] when you got out there would be a prestigious job or maybe a well-paid job, [but it] was reserved still for white people.

The phenomenon reminded Renaud of the separation between enslaved people working in the house versus the field. It also serves as a reminder that in addition to the loss of wages and the strain that places on families who are now tasked with financially supporting their incarcerated loved ones, prison labor also fails to provide jobs that can translate into careers upon release.

Even jobs that could lead to fruitful careers, such as positions in Californias Conservation Camps where incarcerated people fight fires alongside local and state fire departments, are rife with inequity. In addition to not earning anything close to the wages enjoyed by their free world counterparts, incarcerated firefighters are often barred from continuing this work upon their release because of restrictions in getting their license due to their past conviction. For Michael Mendoza, director of national advocacy for the Anti-Recidivism Coalition, this profoundly stifles peoples ability to reshape their lives.

When we talk about jobs in prison, Mendoza said, Were talking about jobs that dont lead to actual careers because of these exceptions and these laws that we desperately need to change.

In addition to advocating for The Abolition Amendment at the federal level, movements to end prison slavery are being made on the state level as well. Thus far, Colorado, Utah, and Nebraska have abolished prison slavery in their state constitutions and groups like the Abolish Slavery National Network are working with grassroots organizers in 24 other states to help works towards the same goal.

Writers, historians, and activists have warned about the dangers of overconflating chattel slavery and mass incarcerationarguing that doing so ignores the unique horrors faced by those who were enslaved and those who are currently or formerly incarceratedbut the slavery clause is an important tie between the two oppressive systems that must be addressed. As the country winds down Juneteenth celebrations for the yearthe first in which the day was commemorated as a federal holiday#EndTheException organizers are tasking the public with not just memorializing the past but also considering our responsibility in the present to create a more free future.

This fight is deeply important to the soul of our nation, said Kamau Allen, lead organizer with the Abolish Slavery National Network. We find ourselves at a crossroads to decide who we want to be as a society moving forward. We must win and we can win because weve done this before.

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Proposed 'Abolition Amendment' would close the 13th Amendment's loophole allowing slavery as punishment for a crime - Workday Minnesota

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. Im Amy Goodman, with Juan Gonzlez, as we look now at a new Abolition Amendment that was reintroduced after President Biden signed legislation this month to create a federal holiday commemorating June 19th as Juneteenth, the day in 1865 when enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, learned of their freedom more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. Some human rights advocates say Juneteenth didnt actually mark the end of slavery in the United States, because of a clause in the 13th Amendment that bans the enslavement of people with the exception of involuntary servitude as punishment for being convicted of a crime. Now Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley and Georgia Congressmember Nikema Williams have reintroduced legislation to amend the 13th Amendment.

For more, were joined by Jorge Renaud, the national criminal justice director for LatinoJustice. He was previously incarcerated for over 27 years in Texas, where he picked cotton, chopped trees and did road work. Hes joining us from Austin. And joining us from Washington, D.C., is the sponsor of this amendment to the amendment, Congressmember Nikema Williams.

Its great to have you with us for the first time, as you replace John Lewis in Congress. Well talk about voting in a bit. But lets start with this. Can you talk about your whats called the Abolition Amendment?

REP. NIKEMA WILLIAMS: Absolutely, Amy. Thank you for having me.

I think we need to look at exactly where we are in our country right now. Were in a period of reckoning with our countrys history. Just yesterday on the House floor, we voted to remove statues of people who voluntarily served the Confederacy in this country. We saw what happened on January 6th. We came together as a country and voted in a very bipartisan because people like to use that word so much bipartisan fashion to make Juneteenth a federal holiday. But yet we still have our countrys founding document; our Constitution has an exception for slavery. And the history of this country is marked with racism and white supremacy and oppression, and its up to us to do something about it.

So, eliminating the loophole in the 13th Amendment, that still allows for slavery if people have been convicted of a crime, is one way to continue to move forward with addressing the problems of our past and building for the future. I think I hear a lot people say, But its not really happening, and theres no slavery, like, really happening in the country. Then whats the problem with removing it, Amy? What I know and what Ive seen from history is, some laws are put on the books and some things are in place just so that they can be used in certain instances, for certain people.

So I am working with my colleague in the Senate to make sure that we get this done. Weve seen that there are some states that have already removed this from their state constitutions. Very red states, like Nebraska and Utah, they had constitutional amendments and took it to the voters, and the voters in their states agreed that this loophole was unacceptable. And its time that we do that on the federal level.

JUAN GONZLEZ: And, Congresswoman, a lot of people are not familiar with this history of this enslavement provision, especially in penal facilities. The state of Alabama, by the turn of the century, about a third of its revenue came from contracting out prison labor?

REP. NIKEMA WILLIAMS: Yeah. I mean, if you go just back to the history of this country when Black Codes were put in place and thats why the exception was initially there, so that these Black Codes that were put in place, for the same people that were just freed, you could arrest them for loitering, you could arrest them for minor infractions, and then put them right back in the fields that they were just freed from. And this has continued to play into this mass incarceration system that we have in this country, that we all know disproportionately impacts Black and Brown people.

JUAN GONZLEZ: And, Jorge Renaud, from the national criminal justice director for LatinoJustice, welcome to Democracy Now! Could you talk about the Abolition Amendment, what you hope it might achieve?

JORGE RENAUD: Yeah. Thank you. Good morning. First, I want to say its an honor to be here with the congresswoman from Georgia.

Yeah, first, I want to say a couple of things. And I think that one of the ways that were going to have to begin this is with how we frame it and how we talk about this. In introducing this segment, the comment was made that some activists say that this is happening the way it is. I think, objectively speaking, that is actually part of the Constitution. And right now there are some like 2.3 million people incarcerated in American cages right? 1.8 million of them in prisons across the country who own nothing, who are told to go to work whenever the administration wants them to go to work, whose work and labor benefit 96% of the work that is done by individuals who are incarcerated in American prisons benefits a local government and doesnt benefit private corporations, right?

So I think that what we have to do first is we have to recognize that American prisons are run by incarcerated labor. Right? The only thing that guards do in this country is pass out mail, turn keys and count individuals. Everything else, from cutting the grass, from doing the electrical work, from doing the maintenance work, from cooking and cleaning and washing dirty underwear everything is done by incarcerated individuals, who, in five states, dont get anything at all for their labor, which means that this country is built upon the concept right? of upon the idea that ambition and initiative is something good, that you could pull yourself up by your bootstraps, right? However, you can go into an American prison and come out 25 years later and not have a penny to your name. And I think even worse than the enforced poverty right? that is inflicted upon those individuals is the idea that their labor, that themselves, is not worthy at all right? that they have no input into what they do while theyre incarcerated right? and that theyre not and that none of their work is beneficial to when they get out.

AMY GOODMAN: Jorge, one of the reasons we call Democracy Now! news with a heart is we go to the people who are closest to a story.

JORGE RENAUD: Right. Thank you for that.

AMY GOODMAN: You are not just an armchair commentator on this issue; you experienced it. You were in prison for 27 years in Texas, where you picked cotton, chopped trees, did road work. Can you talk about how this amendment would affect you?

JORGE RENAUD: OK. I just would

AMY GOODMAN: If you had if this were passed while you were in prison.

JORGE RENAUD: Yeah, yeah. But the thing is, it would still affect me, in a way, because I am still I just went to New York for three days, right? And I had to go down to the Board of Pardons and Paroles and get permission in order to travel, and I had to show it to law enforcement. And thats kind of analogous to the slave papers right? that when slaves were allowed to travel right? back over a hundred years ago, they had to get permission from their masters.

So, while I was incarcerated, I think, one, it would have allowed me, in a way, to pursue employment or educational or vocational work while I was incarcerated that was meaningful to me right? something that I could build upon for when I got out. It would have allowed me to say, You know what? This specific job that has to be done in prison right? that you may or may not pay me for, however, is one thats going to be conducive to my skill set. It would allow me to say the work that I am doing while Im incarcerated is meaningful to the community around me, which are the other individuals who also are incarcerated, right? It would have allowed me to think, I matter. I mean something.

As it was, I was put in solitary confinement because I told the people the last time that I was incarcerated, two years in, when I was working out in the fields, that I was tired of doing slave work and fieldwork, and they put me in solitary. And they told me, You are going to do what we tell you to do, when we tell you to do it. They beat me, and they carried me in the building, and they locked me up in solitary confinement. So, I think it would have put a stop to some of that, right? Yeah.

AMY GOODMAN: How many very quickly, did you get paid? And how many states pay no wages at all?

JORGE RENAUD: Five states right now pay no wages at all. I was given $50 when I was released. And I was given a bus ticket to Austin, which was where I had told the parole board I was paroling to. So, no, I was not paid not one penny for all the labor that I did.

JUAN GONZLEZ: And Id like to get back to Congresswoman Nikema Williams. I wanted to ask you: What do you see as the prospects for this legislation, especially given the very close division in the Senate and in the House, as well, but especially in the Senate?

REP. NIKEMA WILLIAMS: So, this was this is something that I think could pass on a bipartisan level. Weve seen a willingness of some Republicans to come to grips with our nations history and stand on the side of what is right. This was a bipartisan bill when it was introduced in the last Congress, and we are working through this. So, I am hopeful that we will see people standing up to say that, once and for all, were going to end the exception for slavery in our Constitution.

Were still working on it. It was just introduced recently, so theres still so much more work to do. We need people to be calling their members of Congress and calling their senators and voicing their concerns. A lot of members dont even know this exists. When I introduced it, I started talking to some of my Democratic colleagues, and they didnt realize that there was still an exception in the U.S. Constitution for slavery.

The rest is here:

How the Abolition Amendment Would End Constitutional Loophole That Allows Forced Labor in Prisons - Democracy Now!

The British actor Giles Terera has appeared in many critically acclaimed stage productions, including The Tempest, The Book of Mormon and Ma Raineys Black Bottom, but is best known for his portrayal of Aaron Burr in the London production of Lin-Manuel Mirandas musical Hamilton, which won Terera an Olivier award. Last year, he was appointed an MBE for services to theatre; his book, Hamilton and Me: An Actors Journal, has just been published.

You found out on your 40th birthday that youd got the role of Aaron Burr in Hamilton. How did you feel?I felt a strong connection to him, like I knew the character. Like when you meet someone and you just click it felt like that.

Your book, Hamilton and Me, is essentially a diary documenting the audition, rehearsal and performance process. What was your aim in writing it?I read a couple of really influential books when I was starting out Peter Brooks The Empty Space and Antony Shers Year of the King. I found those two really freeing in terms of following your instinct and connecting with your imagination. My diary looks at the process not the pop cultural phenomenon, but the day-to-day work; the nuts and bolts. My hope is that other young actors will be able to look at it and apply it. Whether theyre doing their second year performance at drama school or about to make their debut on stage.

How did Lin-Manuel Miranda react to it?I sent the manuscript to him, and about two hours later he emailed saying that he had read the entire thing and was quite emotional as he was writing. He was very grateful that Id been taking notes and had documented the experience. So that was a good day.

You say not only was I playing this character, I was being taught by him. What did you mean by that?Burr is someone who is quite brittle, emotionally and spiritually. Hes all or nothing. In many ways Im quite similar to Burr, and in many ways Im not. I have never actually shot someone. But something I learned was that you cant be brittle or else you have to be prepared for the consequences. The character has such an intense journey, and as an actor you have to find a way to not be completely taken over by it. Otherwise you go crazy.

What are your thoughts on the historical inaccuracy of Hamilton, and the fact that the founding fathers being slave owners was not mentioned much throughout the play?It didnt take me very long in my research to find out about Thomas Jeffersons slave-owning history, which is very well documented. At the same time I found research that Burr was on very good terms with African Americans. He entertained them in his house for dinner. Theyre all very contradictory characters. My hope is that people are at least being brought to the subject. They can then find out more.

In your speech at the Olivier awards, you praised being a part of such a diverse cast and said that Hamilton wasnt a box-ticking exercise. What compelled you to make that statement?Because it was true. I didnt really think a lot about what I was going to say, but once I was there, I just said what I had always felt. In Hamilton, it wasnt just black actors and white actors we had people from all different backgrounds. I was just really grateful to be in that environment.

Your debut play, The Meaning of Zong, is premiering at Bristol Old Vic in September. Whats it about?Its based on a historical event, a massacre [of 130 enslaved Africans] on board a Liverpool-owned ship and the trial which took place as a result of it. It looks at two figures at the time, Granville Sharp and Olaudah Equiano, who used that story to bring awareness to the public. It was one of the events that succeeded in bringing together like-minded peopleto oppose the slave trade.

Why is now the right time to tell that story?The legacy of that event is still being played out today. There was a huge bailout [after the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833, the British government paid 20m in compensation to registered owners of freed slaves for the loss of business assets], which contributed [to] setting up some of Britains biggest families. A lot of the companies that are a part of our lives have their origins in that time period. What the slave trade meant to the British economy is vast. The statue of Edward Colston was chucked into the water in Bristol because were walking past this legacy every day. We have to be accountable if were going to move forward in any kind of meaningful way, and so I really wanted to explore this particular story as a way of contributing to that conversation.

Your jazz, blues and funk-inspired recent song cycle, Black Matter, explores living in Soho. How did that work come about?Soho was completely empty during the lockdown. Id never seen that before. When things started to ease, people were out in the streets and protesting. I just found myself looking out of the window and writing. After about two weeks, I had a collection [of songs]. A friend of mine runs [music and cabaret venue] the Crazy Coqs and he called me up. We were going to do it with a live audience. When that was no longer an option, we filmed it instead.

How do you see the arts sector recovering in the aftermath of the pandemic and Brexit?We are very durable and adaptable, and in two years time we will know about what happened because of the people that will create art about it and compose about it. But it is an industry and it needs forward planning. When the rug is pulled, or no provisions are there, its very difficult to sustain.

What message do you have for our politicians?We have to acknowledge what the creative arts bring to our society and to our economy. The industry is in huge need of help, so I would like to see action. What would last year have been like if you couldnt listen to music?

You have a twin sister who you have thanked in speeches. As your career has soared, what has that relationship meant to you?Her name is Nicola, shell want that in! Were really different. She always says: I cant think of anything worse than getting on stage! This month Ive got to go to the investiture for my MBE. Im taking her with me because shes the most encouraging. She comes to all of my shows. Though with Hamilton she said: I liked Obioma [Ugoala] as Washington. He was great. Shell talk about everyone else but me! She wants to keep my feet on the ground. I have to give her props. In London, its all very insular. Its good to have someone who has nothing to do with the industry and who doesnt really give a shit about the things that I do.

Hamilton and Me: An Actors Journal by Giles Terera is published by Nick Hern Books, 16.99. To support The Guardian and Observer, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply. Tereras debut play, The Meaning of Zong, will be at Bristol Old Vic from 11 September to 2 October

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Actor Giles Terera: Lin-Manuel read my manuscript, Hamilton and Me, and was quite emotional - The Guardian

However, in calculating a persons income for the CSHC income test, a reference tax year is used usually the tax year immediately preceding the current tax year.

If a persons income for the reference tax year is above the CSHC income limits and they can show that the source of the increased income is of a one-off nature then, subject to certain conditions, they may give an estimate of their income for the current tax year.

Services Australia would consider a range of factors on a case-by-case basis when determining what income estimate can be used for eligibility purposes.

The spokesperson suggests that you test your eligibility for the CSHC by making a claim.

If the abolition of the work test for non-concessional superannuation contributions becomes effective from July 1, 2022, and I turn 72 in that financial year, can I use the bring-forward rule and deposit $330,000 into my Self-Managed Super Fund that year and another $330,000 in the 2025-2026 financial year?

John Perri, of AMP Technical Services, says there is an expectation that the bring-forward rule would be available to individuals aged 67-74 when the federal government amends the legislation to abolish the work test for non-concessional contributions from July, 2022.

If that is the case and as you will be aged 71 at July 1, 2022, (though you are turning 72 in that financial year) then, assuming your total super balance at June 30, 2022, is less than $1.48 million, you could use the bring-forward rules to make a non-concessional contribution of $330,000. This would mean you could not make any further non-concessional contributions till July 1, 2025, at which point you would be 74.

It would be necessary to see the legislation in detail before answering the second part of your question. The ability to use three years of bring-forward contributions at age 74 may not be available, given no non-concessional contributions could be made at age 75 and 76.

I receive a full age pension as I have no assets. If I won a house in a lottery, would I lose my pension?

When you say you have no assets, I assume that means you do not own a house. Therefore, if you won a house in a lottery and live in that house, it would be an exempt asset and would not affect your pension.

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If you sold the property and bought a cheaper house to live in, you would need to seek financial advice, as the capital released on the sale could be sufficient to have an effect on your pension.

A single pensioner homeowner can have assessable assets of up to $268,000 with no effect on their pension. However, the income test cut-off point is $178 a fortnight. If you had deemed assets of $260,000 this could just take you over the bottom threshold.

Noel Whittaker is the author of Making Money Made Simple and numerous other books on personal finance. noel@noelwhittaker.com.au

Originally posted here:

The implications of going guarantor on a mortgage - Sydney Morning Herald

Emory is one of many organizations across the country that embarked on self-reflective looks last year in the wake of nationwide protests demanding social justice and racial reconciliation. The University System of Georgia created an advisory group last summer to explore whether any of its buildings should be renamed. Their work is ongoing.

Emorys recommendations came from groups of faculty, staff, students, trustees, and alumni created last year to review ways to address the universitys history. Emory has about 15,000 students, but its racial diversity is not reflective of the statewide population. About 8% of its students are Black. By contrast 32% of Georgias residents are Black.

Emory earlier this month held a Juneteenth ceremony in which it apologized to a Black medical school applicant who was denied admission in 1959 because of his race.

The university said Monday it will rename Language Hall on its Oxford College in Newton County in honor of Horace J. Johnson Jr., who helped integrate the countys public school system as a fourth grader in the late 1960s and became the first Black Superior Court judge to serve in the Alcovy Judicial Circuit (comprised of Newton and Walton counties) in 2002. Johnson died last year.

Superior Court Judge Horace J. Johnson Jr., of Newton County, died July 1.

Emorys Longstreet-Means residence hall will be renamed Eagle Hall. Augustus Baldwin Longstreet, president of Emory College from 1839 to 1848, opposed abolition and strongly defended slavery and secession.

It is inappropriate for his name to continue to be memorialized in a place of honor on our campus, Fenves said in the email.

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Emory University to rename buildings to address legacy of racism - Atlanta Journal Constitution

AMSTERDAM (AP) The mayor of Amsterdam apologized Thursday for the extensive involvement of the Dutch capitals former governors in the global slave trade, saying the moment had come for the city to confront its grim history.

Debate about the role of Amsterdams city fathers in the slave trade has been going on for years, but it has gained more attention amid the global reckoning with racial injustice that followed the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

It is time to engrave the great injustice of colonial slavery into our citys identity. With big-hearted and unconditional recognition, Mayor Femke Halsema said. Because we want to be a government for those for whom the past is painful and its legacy a burden.

While apologizing, she also stressed that not a single Amsterdammer alive today is to blame for the past.

The Dutch government has in the past expressed deep regret for the nations historic role in slavery, but has stopped short of a formal apology. Prime Minister Mark Rutte said last year that such an apology could polarize society.

An independent commission that discussed the issue in recent months issued a report Thursday advising the central government to apologize, saying it would help heal historic suffering.

Interior Minister Kajsa Ollongren attended the ceremony in Amsterdam but did not comment directly on the call for a government apology.

Black activist and actor Patrick Mathurin said some in the Netherlands try to ignore the countrys colonial past, but through our activism, we forced them to look at it. And also what happened, of course, with George Floyd made it all evolve faster.

Halsema said history casts a shadow that reaches into the present day.

The city officials and the ruling elite who, in their hunger for profit and power, participated in the trade in enslaved people, in doing so entrenched a system of oppression based on skin color and race, she said. The past from which our city still draws its distinctive commercial spirit is therefore indivisible from the persistent racism that still festers.

She closed her speech with the words: On behalf of the College of Mayor and Alderpersons, I apologize. Cheers and applause erupted from the small group of invited guests sitting on socially distanced white chairs.

The apology came during an annual ceremony marking the abolition of slavery in Dutch colonies in Suriname and the Dutch Antilles on July 1, 1863. The anniversary is now known as Keti Koti, which means Chains Broken.

Activists say many people who had been enslaved were forced to work without pay for their former masters for a further decade.

Research into the involvement of Amsterdams city fathers in the slave trade and slavery was commissioned by the municipality in 2019.

Halsema said it showed that from the end of the 16th century until well into the 19th century, Amsterdams involvement was direct, worldwide, large-scale, multifaceted and protracted.

Amsterdam municipality is not alone in apologizing for its role in slavery. In 2007, then-London Mayor Ken Livingstone made an emotional speech apologizing for the citys involvement. And a year ago the Bank of England apologizedfor the links some of its past governors had with slavery.

Halsema doesnt have to leave her official residence on one of Amsterdams mansion-lined canals to be reminded of the citys deeply rooted ties to slavery.

The residence was formerly the home of Paulus Godin, who was a board member of the West-India Company and director of the Society of Suriname that were both heavily involved in slavery in the 17th century.

A stone plaque outside the house recalls that history and calls the slave trade and slavery crimes against humanity.

Amsterdam municipality says that former city fathers in the time that slavery was rife in Dutch colonies were deeply involved in the trade.

Mayors were also owners of plantations or traded in people. They helped, through their public office, to maintain slavery because they profited from it, the city says on its website.

The Dutch national museum, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, is currently staging a major exhibition entitled simply Slavery examining the countrys role in the global slave trade.

Thursdays anniversary is the Dutch equivalent of Juneteenth in the United States, which President Joe Biden made a federal holiday earlier this month. There are calls to make the Dutch day of commemoration a national holiday.

The U.S. federal government has not apologized for slavery. The U.S. House and Senate both have passed resolutions apologizing for slavery and racial segregation laws.

During a press conference in 2007, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said he was sorry for Britains role in slavery, which he called entirely unacceptable. But eight years later during a trip to Jamaica, Prime Minister David Cameron sidestepped calls for an apology and ruled out paying reparations.

____

Corder reported from The Hague. Associated Press writer Danica Kirka in London and AP researcher Jennifer Farrar in New York contributed.

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Amsterdam mayor apologizes for city fathers role in slavery - KXAN.com

As we head toward the 245th anniversary of American independence, critical race theory has emerged as the dominant subject gripping and dividing the nation. The threshold question, itself the subject of rancorous and oftentimes disingenuous debate, is what the term critical race theory even refers to. When this semantic debate surfaces, proponents usually attempt two things at once.

First, they accuse their CRT-skeptical interlocutors of being bigots, white supremacists or apologists who want to deliberately muddle and whitewash Americas complex and at times tragic history of race relations. This first step involves CRT proponents grilling CRT critics as to why they are so scared to discuss racism or discuss slavery, as if that applied to anyone other than a truly infinitesimal and politically powerless fringe subset.

Second, while publicly seizing the moral high ground, CRT proponents simultaneously work behind the scenes to advance what it is that they actually believe. Consider this forthright (and harrowing) admission from Critical Race Theory: An Introduction, a 2001 book from Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic: Unlike traditional civil rights, which embraces incrementalism and step-by-step progress, critical race theory questions the very foundations of the liberal order, including equality theory, legal reasoning, Enlightenment rationalism and neutral principles of constitutional law.

CRT proponents, in line with the anti-racism movement and vogue notions of equity, candidly advocate for discrimination as long as it is anti-white, anti-Asian, anti-Christian or anti-Jewish. As leading CRT anti-racist intellectual Ibram X. Kendi wrote in 2019s How to Be an Antiracist: The only remedy to racist discrimination is anti-racist discrimination. The only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination. The only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination.

In practice, as courageous investigative journalists such as the Manhattan Institutes Chris Rufo have laid bare for all to see, CRT takes the form of crass racial indoctrination that ascribes collective and historical guilt to white Americans, urging white parents of schoolchildren to seek white abolition and accusing schools of wantonly spirit murdering black children. The two-step CRT apologia described is thus willfully dishonest. It is a bad-faith argument, pure and simple. In formal logic, we would recognize it as a prototypical motte-and-bailey fallacy.

It is, furthermore, a logical fallacy committed to advancing profoundly un-American notions of collectivized and racially hierarchical guilt and innocence. This weekend, as we recall the most famous exhortation in the Declaration of Independence, that all men are created equal, we should consider just how antithetical CRT is to that most foundational American principle. That principle of real, genuine human equality, subsequently woven into our legal and social fabric via the 14th Amendment and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, sits in an irreconcilable state of tension with the crass and overt anti-white bigotry embodied by CRT.

CRT in most forms is already illegal under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, but many Republican-governed states have gone further, crafting and passing new legislation to specifically ban CRT pedagogy from corrupting their impressionable youth. While every piece of legislation or regulatory rule is distinct and must be legally assessed on its own merits, these states are absolutely correct to ban CRT indoctrination against the protestations of both left-liberal and right-liberal critics.

Many arguing against the states CRT bans resort to trite First Amendment appeals. Youre infringing on teachers speech! they risibly claim. Nonsense. A public school classroom is not a utopian marketplace of ideas derived from an Enlightenment-era political pamphlet. On the contrary, states in our constitutional order retain near-plenary power to craft their educational curricula. If the First Amendment-appealing crowd were intellectually consistent, they would similarly object to a state education bureaucracy banning the teaching of Holocaust denial. And if the secular leftists among this cohort were consistent, they would presumably object to a states ban on teaching the Book of Genesis creation story. They wont.

More generally, any society that takes the bare minimum amount of pride required to wish to sustain itself for its progeny must understand that instilling racially divisive poison in the minds of impressionable students is a recipe for disaster. No nation will long endure if its youngest generation is full of disdain, disgust and self-hatred. The traditional goal of education, as the Founders conceived it, was to help inculcate the sound republican habits of mind and civic virtues necessary for a flourishing polity. Suffice it to say we have deviated far from that, but surely we can at least ban pedagogies that are often outright deceitful such as The New York Times much-criticized 1619 Project and are always dedicated to collective self-immolation.

Banning CRT is neither coercive nor liberty-infringing. Rather, it is a prudent and necessary first step to salvaging a fractious nation teetering on the brink of collapse.

http://www.creators.com.

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Yes, we should ban critical race theory from our schools - Johnson City Press (subscription)

The Liberty Bell, reforged from a broken bell and distinguished by a gaping crack that was purposefully widened in hopes of repairing a much smaller crack, is [the] perfect symbol for Philadelphia, says Senator Nikil Saval.

My District gives NCSL members a chance to tell us about life in the places they represent, from the high-profile events to the fun facts only locals know.

Commissioned by the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1751, the Liberty Bell called legislators to session up until the 1840s, when a final crack put it out of commission. No one knows exactly when it first cracked, but a 19th century repair job that involved widening the fissure precipitated a second crack that became a death knell: The Liberty Bell rang no more.

The loss of the bells acoustics, however, marked the beginning of its fame. Journalist George Lippards 1847 story Ring, Grandfather, Ring described the ringing of the Liberty Bell after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. This fictious story captured the publics imagination and immortalized the Liberty Bell as a symbol of independence. From the 1880s to 1915, the bell went on multiple tours across America, awing the public and reaching nearly one-third of the U.S. population. Along the way, the bell and its inscription, Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land Unto All the Inhabitants thereof, became a powerful emblem of hope for people fighting for freedom, including abolitionists, suffragists and civil rights activists.

No one alive today has ever heard the bell ring freely, but we still feel the reverberations of its tolls, says Senator Nikil Saval (D), left, whose 1st District includes the Liberty Bell site. The Liberty Bell has become a symbol of the power of the people, and we gather to its clarion call to stand together against injustice.

The Liberty Bell is now on permanent display at the Liberty Bell Center, which is managed by the National Park Service and visited by millions of tourists every year.

We recently caught up with Saval and Representative Mary-Louise Isaacson (D), right, of the 175th District to ask about the bells impact on their constituents and the nation.

What does it mean to you and your community to be home to a beacon of freedom and independence?

Isaacson: The many symbols of freedom and independence in my district are constant reminders of the founding principles of this country, the dreams and vision that our Founding Fathers had, and the just system were working towards to correct the grave injustices and missteps made along the way. To truly honor history, you must recognize the parts that youre not proud to build a better future. Every time I walk past historical sites such as Independence Hall, the Betsy Ross House, the Museum of the American Revolution and Carpenters Hall, I am reminded of the immense progress weve made thus far, and the long way we still have to go. I carry this with me when I vote on the House floor on behalf of all Pennsylvanians with fairness, equality and justice in mind.

Saval: The 1st District is home to people whose families have lived here for generations, and those who are newly arrived, brought by the same hopes and dreams that have inspired people to put down their roots here for centuries. Our district is one of the most racially, ethnically and linguistically diverse in Pennsylvania.

Those who visit our district, especially around the Liberty Bell, come from all over the country and all around the world. The bells toll has always been used to bring people together. The Liberty Bell was first known as the State House bell. In its original use, the bell was rung as a signal for townspeople to gather for news, and lawmakers to gather for their meetings. While its import was always in bringing people together, it did not become a symbol of liberty until the 19th century. The inscription on the bell became a rallying cry for abolitionists in their fight to end slavery. The bell was first referred to as the Liberty Bell in 1835 in the Anti-Slavery Record, an abolitionist publication, and the name was adopted gradually over the following years. The Liberty Bell has since inspired the womens suffrage movement, the civil rights movement, and many others who have fought against an unjust status quo.

How has the Liberty Bell shaped your district and its values?

Isaacson: The Liberty Bell inscription, a reminder of freedom and inclusivity, accurately reflects the progressive values of the 175th district. We value environmental conservation, quality public education, equitable access to health care, racial justice, and equality for all peoples.

Saval: The Liberty Bell was ordered from England and shipped to Philadelphia. But on the very first test ring, the bell cracked. The metal that it was made from was too brittle to withstand the task for which it was created. Local metalworkers melted down the original bell and recast it here, in Philadelphia, where it would ring for nearly 100 years.

In this origin story, I see Philadelphias roots as a city in which working people save the day. We value our trades, our labor. I see the importance of building structures that are strong but not rigid. My city knows that things will break, that things will fall apart; and when that happens, we must come together and try again. We cannot build structures that cant withstand the blows of our times.

What does the Liberty Bell mean to you personally?

Isaacson: I live in Northern Liberties, so my daughter and I regularly take walks through the Historic District and past the Liberty Bell. The streets are always filled with people, both tourists and residents alike, either there to admire and learn about the Liberty Bell or just passing by on their way to work, lunch, or to visit friends. And while living down the street from sites of such historic importance may make some people forget, the Liberty Bell is a constant visual reminder to me that our liberties and rights today have been hard fought forand unfortunately, are still often under attack by not only systemic oppression and racism, but by special interest groups and lobbyists. The Liberty Bell is a constant reminder to me to keep fighting so that its inscription finally rings true for all people in our great country.

Saval: Philadelphia has a reputation for being a scrappy city, rough around the edges. The Liberty Bell, reforged from a broken bell and distinguished by a gaping crack that was purposefully widened in hopes of repairing a much smaller crack, is its perfect symbol. The Liberty Bell presents as a force of chaotic good, showing Philadelphias free spirit and its good heart, while maintaining its propensity for disruption of an unjust status quo. We must always take our symbols of freedom and liberty and bring them with us into unchartered territories. It is right that the bell became a symbol of abolition, of womens suffrage, of civil rights. We keep its spirit alive by bringing it with us in our current struggles to dismantle racism, to end poverty and to build a world in which everyone can truly thrive.

What else is great about your district? What other attractions should people see?

Isaacson: One of my favorite facts about the 175th Legislative District and the seat that I currently serve in as the elected representative, is that it was, in fact, Benjamin Franklins seat when he was a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. So, in a way, I carry the torch that he first lit, which is frankly an honor. Other attractions, historic sites and museums people should see in the district are Penn Treaty Park, the Chinatown Friendship Arch, the African American Museum in Philadelphia, the National Museum of American Jewish History, Christ Church, Reading Terminal Market, and so many others!

Saval: Our district is home to some of the countrys greatest arts institutions and museums. We have the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Rodin Museum, the Franklin Institute and the Academy of Natural Sciences, to name just a few! We have the Avenue of the Arts, with its dance and theater companies, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. All of Philadelphias sports teams play in our district! And we have some of Philadelphias most iconic neighborhoods and some of its most beautiful and widely used parksRittenhouse Square, Penn Treaty Park, Fairmount Park, the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge, and FDR Park, along with dozens of smaller community parks, where farmers markets set up to offer local food and produce, friends sit and enjoy each others company, and families bring their children to play on hot summer nights. Our architecture includes some of Phillys newest structures and some of its oldest houses.

These interviews have been edited for length and clarity.

Ben Mathios is an intern for NCSL.

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My District: Is Home to the Liberty Bell - National Conference of State Legislatures

State lawmakers and activists say a Hearst Connecticut Media Group investigation into the shadowy and often lenient world of police discipline highlighted how more reform is needed beyond the passage of last years law enforcement accountability bill.

The big problem is the police are policing themselves, said state Rep. Robyn Porter, a New Haven Democrat and judiciary committee member.

While the landmark legislation state lawmakers passed last year should help address some problems exposed by the Hearst Connecticut report, There is more to be done, Porter said.

State Rep. Steven Stafstrom, a Bridgeport Democrat and co-chairman of the judiciary committee, shared a similar outlook.

A key sponsor of last years Police Accountability Act, Stafstrom said the new law will result in significant changes and improvements in police discipline in the coming years.

What we were hearing from advocates and the public really matches up with your findings in that article, said Stafstrom. Frankly, I wish I could say I was surprised, but Im not. Thats why we made some of the reforms we did.

Still, he said, We continue to look for areas where there are gaps and deficiencies in how police departments are held accountable and how we provide public transparency.

Hearst Connecticut examined more than 1,800 internal affairs investigations by 30 local police departments in Fairfield, New Haven, Litchfield and Middlesex counties between 2015 and 2020.

About 40 percent of the internal charges were sustained, meaning misconduct was found. Only about a quarter of sustained cases drew a suspension from duty, the most serious form of punishment short of termination. About one percent of sustained cases led to an officer being fired.

Most sustained cases drew a reprimand, counseling or an order for more training the lightest punishment available.

The investigation also found that police departments struggle with transparency. Seven departments, including Bridgeport the states largest city did not provide any records. Other departments omitted key details in the records they provided in response to requests through state freedom of information. And, because of vague language police often used to describe officer misconduct, its unclear if the records provided accurately reflect the total number of claims of excessive force.

This is why people are protesting across the country for police reform, Scot X. Esdaile, president of the Connecticut chapter of the NAACP. There needs to be more police accountability and police reform for officers involved in misconduct.

Police officials, however, defended how officer misconduct is investigated and how discipline is issued.

We certainly do the best we can to police ourselves, said Danbury Police Chief Patrick Ridenhour, who is president of the Connecticut Police Chiefs Association. Every department has a system of progressive discipline. If its something that can be corrected, we do training and a reprimand. If its more serious, you can get a suspension or termination.

Ridenhour noted departments must adhere to union contracts and officers can appeal to reduce or overturn punishments. He said discipline handed out by departments is often more costly to officers than it may appear.

When people see a three-day suspension, or four or five days, people think thats not sufficient, Ridenhour said. But, There is a sufficient cost to being out of work with loss of pay. A three-day suspension can cost up to $2,500. There is a significant cost, and it can be a detriment.

Among the lawmakers and activists who believe more reform is needed, there is a range of ideas of what the next steps should be.

Esdaile said there should be independent oversight over police departments.

We have always had issues with police officers policing themselves and the internal affairs and collective bargaining [union] agreements have not made sense to us, Esdaile said. We always felt there should be an outside, non-biased organization investigating these complaints.

Porter listed a series of changes she said are needed, including not allowing fired cops to work at other departments and completely doing away with a provision last years reform legislation chipped away at: qualified immunity, which shields cops from personal liability for their actions.

We know why this stuff happens. They [police officers] are getting away with it, Porter said. They are above the law and they know that. We have to make sure people understand thats not the case.

Beyond law changes, departments and their officers need to change their mindset, Porter said. Some of this stuff you cant legislate; you have to treat people like you wanted to be treated, Porter said. There is level of respect and things need to be done in decency and order. Its still the same culture; its still us against them.

Camelle Scott, executive director of the Black Infinity Collective based in New Haven, said she has given up on seeking meaningful reform of the existing policing system.

This situation is a prime example of why reform is an inadequate response, Scott said. Abolition is the only path forward.

Abolition refers to a national movement that supports disbanding police departments and allocating the money to other initiatives, such as social programs, community building and job creation.

Some envision replacing traditional police with mental health specialists or crisis and intervention teams that would handle routine police matters. While there is debate within the movement over whether any traditional police would remain, there is general agreement that the current police state must go.

We support the efforts of community-based groups to implement reforms that reduce harm and move us closer to abolition, and we are grateful for the thoughtfulness and intentionality of groups that prioritize both harm reduction and abolition, Scott said.

Stafstrom said last years accountability bill allows municipalities to get tougher on officers and makes it easier to take away an officers certification, the state-issued license to work in law enforcement.

We had heard that from folks that its hard to fire an officer because of the grievance process, Stafstrom said. We have heard frustration from reform advocates and complaints from police chiefs and elected officials that the state labor board says no and its sent back.

The Connecticut State Board of Mediation and Arbitration, which is empowered to review punishments by police departments, can reverse discipline and even reinstate fired officers, based on a reading of union contracts that establish the rules officers operate under and state law. A Hearst Connecticut review in 2019 uncovered seven officers fired by Connecticut municipalities over the prior two years were reinstated by the mediation board.

Stafstrom said the legislation also gave more teeth to the POST [Police Officer Standards and Training] Council to decertify an officer for conduct that undermines public confidence in law enforcement on the job and off the job.

The council provides an officer the license to work in law enforcement. The council can now decertify officers for more offenses; previously a felony conviction was the most often reason applied.

The bill also created an independent state Office of Inspector General to rule on serious use of force violations and the death of suspects at the hands of officers, and local communities were given the authority to create civilian review boards with the power to subpoena police department records.

Ill be interested to see how the statistics change from 2021 to 2025, Stafstrom said.

We made reforms, and Im not saying we are done, but we made reforms, he said. In some of these instances, its incumbent on local leadership to make sure their department is accountable to some sort of civilian review board.

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Lawmakers call for reform after Hearst CT investigation of police misconduct - CTPost