"MANDATORY MINIMUMS"
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
8th Amendment of the United States Constitution, 1791.
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.
13th Amendment of the United States Constitution, 1865.
UNCONSTITUTIONAL "Mandatory Minimum" sentencing laws disproportionately incarcerate, harm, and Enslave mostly Black and Brown American citizens. Oppressive and clearly inhumane "Mandatory Minimum" sentencing laws have gone unchecked for decades and continue to blatantly violate the 8th Amendment, (the constitutional protection against cruel unusual punishments) because they continue to inflict harsh unjust cruel life sentences for trivial non-violent things and marijuana possession. Whether it is a life sentence of forced labor, without the possibility of parole, for 1 gram of marijuana, or whether it is a life sentence in prison for a few grams of marijuana, or whether it is a life sentence for stealing a slice of pizza, or whether it is a life sentence for stealing a bicycle, or a life sentence for a disabled American army veteran growing medicinal marijuana plants, absolutely no human being, no matter what the color of their skin might be, deserves to die locked in a cage Enslaved forever because of racist, corrupt, unconstitutional, Evil American laws. This is the painfully grim truth about the corrupt American legal system. Too many people have received CRUEL unjust punishments and remain wrongfully incarcerated, exploited, disenfranchised, and Enslaved in violent prisons because of the unconstitutional "War On Drugs" and cruel inhumane "Mandatory Minimums" that blatantly violate human rights. Immediate reform from Congress and the Federal Government is necessary now to protect future American generations and to reunite families with their loved ones.
Freedom and Justice is long overdue.
You want to know what this was really all about? The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and Black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or Black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and Blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.
John Ehrlichman (bottom left), President Nixon's White House Counsel Policy Chief, on the reality of the "War on Drugs" in 1994.
"No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
14th Amendment of the United States Constitution, 1868.
The Evil 13th Amendment Slavery loophole must be abolished. Congress has a moral responsibility to end American Slavery for real this time and also a clear constitutional legal obligation to uphold "Due Process" and "Equal Protection of the Laws" for all citizens who currently remain wrongfully incarcerated and Enslaved in violent prisons because of the unconstitutional, fraudulent, racist, corrupt "War On Drugs" marijuana prohibition, and because of cruel inhumane "Mandatory Minimums" that continue to violate basic human rights. Freedom and Justice must be served now by Congress. No Slavery. No Exceptions. Sign the petition.