others. regardless of what they look like or where they come from or what their last name is or what faith they practice. >> but while we trumpet ratification of a 13th amendment, let's also take a moment to read it carefully. 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. notice that, except as punishment for crime. this often forgotten clause. the little carve out for continued slavery and involuntary servitude so long as it is in response to conviction for a crime. chattal slavery fell in the aftermath of passage of the 13th amendment. but the modern incarceration state was born in those same years. it began with a convict lease system that returned many newly emancipated black men to the very plantations where they had