Celebrate Juneteenth by continuing the fight for Black liberation:
Chip in to become a Color Of Change supporter today.

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John,

On Juneteenth, we celebrate the end of slavery — and keep fighting to abolish slavery once and for all.

Let us explain: Juneteenth marks the day when news of the Emancipation Proclamation reached enslaved Black Americans in Texas. Later, the 13th Amendment officially ended slavery, but with a critical (and intentional) loophole: “except as a punishment for crime.”

John, 150 years later, prison labor is a multi-billion dollar industry. And too many Black people — who are over-surveilled, over-policed, and over-incarcerated — are forced into this rebranded system of slavery every day.

Color Of Change is fighting with all we’ve got to win justice for Black people, and that includes ending prison labor and abolishing slavery for good. John, this Juneteenth, can we count on you to chip in $5 to power our campaigns to end prison labor?

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Back to that loophole in the 13th Amendment, Test: After the U.S. kept slavery as a punishment for crime, states across the country rushed to criminalize Black people any way they could. The “war on drugs” and ‘94 Crime Bill continued that legacy.

Decades later, little has changed at the federal level. Although prison labor is framed as “voluntary,” working for pennies is one way to have your sentence reduced. Refusing to work can land you in solitary confinement or lead to a longer prison sentence.

On top of the grueling, thankless work of maintaining and operating the prison itself, incarcerated people are also contracted out to provide labor for outside agencies — including private corporations.

That’s right, John: Like enslaved people and Black folks under Jim Crow, incarcerated people are still “leased out” to work for private companies that profit from Black pain.

We can end this cruel system, but we need your help. Chip in $5 or whatever you can to help Color Of Change continue our campaigns to end prison labor and dismantle the exploitative carceral industry.

Prison labor is a nationwide issue, John — from Louisiana, where incarcerated people clean and landscape the Governor’s Mansion, to California, where they’re paid a dollar an hour to risk their lives fighting forest fires.

That’s why we need a national grassroots movement to end this form of slavery for good. Support from people like you is critical as we educate, organize, and mobilize our members, build coalitions, and fight to end prison labor from coast-to-coast.

John, make a donation to Color Of Change today to help power this fight.

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Before signing off, know this: Although we have a long road ahead of us to build a more equitable world for Black people, we are inspired every day by activists, organizers, and folks like you who are committed to this fight and securing wins for Black folks.

So on Juneteenth, as we celebrate those wins and the end of chattel slavery, let’s double down in the fight for Black liberation. Thank you for standing with us.

Until justice is real,

-- Scott, Rashad, Arisha, Malachi, Erika, Megan, Ernie, Palika, Madison, Ariel, Trevor, Ana, McKayla, and the rest of the Color Of Change team


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