 Welcome to Vermont House Government Operations Committee. This is our public hearing regarding the proposed amendment to the Constitution of the state of Vermont, clarifying the prohibition on slavery and indentured servitude. We will introduce committee members who are here present in the committee room and then we'll give the folks who are on screen just a moment to say hello as well. I am Representative Sarah Copeland-Hansis. I represent Bradford and I'm the chair of House Government Operations. And to my left. I'm Representative Hal Colston. I represent Winooski and part of Burlington. Welcome. I'm Representative Samantha Lefebvre. I represent Chelsea, Corinth, Orange, Berkshire, Washington and Williamstown. Good evening, everybody. I'm Mike Berwicky and I'm one of two representatives in the Wyndham Ford District down in the Southeast Port of Vermont and that constitutes Putney, Dumberston and Westminster. Representative Gannon. Thank you, Madam Chair. My name is John Gannon from Wilmington and I represent Halfax, Wydingham and Wilmington. Representative Hooper. Good evening, folks. Bob Hooper, I represent the new North End of Burlington up to the Colchester Line. Representative Vihovsky. Representative Tanya Vihovsky and I represent Essex Town. Representative McCarthy. Hi, I'm Representative Mike McCarthy. I represent St. Alvin City and the southern part of St. Alvin's Town. Representative Anthony. Good evening, Representative Peter Anthony. I, with my colleague, one other districtmate, represent the city of Barrie. Representative LaClaire. Good evening. My name is Rob LaClaire and I am the junior representative of Barrie Town. Representative Higley. Welcome, everyone. I'm Representative Mark Higley from Lowell and I represent Lowell J. Westfield-Troy in the town of Eden. So welcome and thank you. I just wanna go over a few logistics quickly at the beginning of the meeting to make it more comfortable for folks who are attending this webinar. In the webinar format, you'll see the Government Operations Committee and a timer clock on your Zoom screen. And we are here as panelists in this webinar format and the rest of the folks who have registered to speak tonight are currently in the attendance or audience of the webinar. We've got a combination of staff members and committee members who will help to move people into the panelist area when it is your turn to speak. And so what I will try to do is read up the first name on the list and say who is on deck so that the person who's on deck can be putting any final touches on what they need in order to be able to speak. We are making three to five minutes available to folks to testify here tonight. If you are unable to get to all of your remarks in the five minutes, we would ask that you submit them to testimony at leg.state.vt.us and that is an email address that is contained on the House Government Operations website where you registered for this webinar. So the timer clock will time down, Representative Gannon will give an audible at one minute remaining. And so we look forward to hearing from folks tonight. And if for some reason someone is absent when I call their name, we will do one last scan of the list when we get to the end of the registrants to make sure that if someone joined late that they still have the opportunity to speak. So with that, I'm gonna start at the top of our list and invite Sylvia Knight to come in and testify and Mark Hughes will be on deck. When you get moved into the webinar part of the meeting you will need to unmute yourselves and I would welcome you to also share your screen, turn on your screen as well so that we can see your video and welcome Sylvia, we can hear you now. Good evening, thank you for this time. My name is Sylvia Knight and I live in North Burlington. My first encounter with PR2 left me unclear about the need for this legislation. I had not examined the language in the constitution closely. It didn't touch me, it seemed clear enough that slavery was not legal in Vermont. I have come to see this issue differently. That's why I'm speaking tonight. As a Vermont citizen, I'm urging you to approve and pass proposal two out of your committee as soon as possible. I urge you also to advocate for his passage in the legislature. Why? National and local evidence of white racism recently and in earlier years as well as deep reading have told me that our state and country are still capable of deep exploitation, injustice and cruelty. We have seen continuing oppression and painful experiences of people of color in this state and in country. I suggest you read Ibram Kendi's book, Stamped from the Beginning. Regarding PR2, I recommend Professor Harvey Amani Whitfield's book. The Problem of Slavery in Early Vermont, 1777-1800. His work lays bare the need for PR2. Vermont's constitution was unclear about the status of slaves, their children, or their ability to live a free life in Vermont. Prominent Vermonters bought and sold slaves, black people after 1777 without consequence. The mechanisms of enforcing ambiguous provisions do not exist and the tendency to exploit others in this or any state is too prevalent. We cannot leave the issue of slavery at all ambiguous in the Vermont constitution. Please pass PR2. Thank you for this time. Thank you, Ms. Knight. Next up is Mark Hughes and on deck will be Mia Longmore. Welcome, Reverend Hughes. Madam Chair, can I also just ask for a point of clarification on the process? You sure can. Would those who are offering testimony via video still be welcome to submit their testimony in written format? Absolutely. Okay, so just for clarification, one is able to provide their full testimony via video, they're still welcome to offer it in written format. Yes, that would be wonderful at testimony at ledge.state.vt.us. And finally, this would be a part of the public record and part of the record that's on file in perpetuity, correct? Yes. Okay, thank you for that clarification, Madam Chair. And good evening. My name is Reverend Mark Hughes and I am here in Burlington, Vermont. I'm the director of the Vermont Racial Justice Alliance and Justice for All and we're also, I'm really originating architect. We very strongly support obviously a proposal to the Declaration of Rights, clarifying the prohibition of slavery and indentured servitude. This may be one of the most consequential actions that this committee will ever take. The work is connected to and dates back to the nation's original constitutional, the constitutionalization of slavery. The stated purpose of proposal two is to clarify that slavery and indentured servitude are prohibited. We know that slavery became de facto in the English colonies when 20 Africans disembarked from the White Lion at Point Comfort, which is now Hampton, Virginia in late August of 1619. And we understand that this has remained the case, it remained the case all the way up through 1776 when the Declaration of Independence was pinned. It would be the following year that Vermont would create the first constitution that permitted slavery. We did so with three exception clauses. One of those exception clauses were that a person would be under age 21 at the time it was women 18 and the second one is the person's own consent. And then the last one is it's bound by law payment of debts, damages, fines and the like. The precedent it was created and acknowledged by the, it was acknowledged by the Abali Slavery National Network, which you're gonna hear from in a little bit. In post reconstruction, what we see is is that there was a compromise and state slavery became the institution de jour with the creation of the exception clause of the 13th Amendment and the subsequent use of similar language in dozens of state constitutions across the United States. Now, Vermont held firm on its constitutional slave language with one exception and that was in 1924. That was when they decided to change the age of emancipation for women at the 21. The freemen of Vermont, those who could run for and be elected in the 180 seats of your assembly, the five statewide offices and our congressional delegation and also those who are able to vote for referendum such as this, the constitutional amendment, they would ensure that Vermont remained the only Northern slave state to this day. Many of the supported statutes, rules, institutions, policies, they've all remained in place largely for almost two centuries, for more than two centuries. Now, your R-133, 113 rather, your R-113 said that dislegislated body commits to a sustained and deep work in eradicating systemic racism throughout the state, actively fighting racist practices and participating in the creation of a more just and equitable system. This is the heart of the work that we're doing. The heart and soul of systemic racism is political and economic division along racial lines. The deep work that we're doing in Vermont must be undertaken with a practical and a sober approach, understanding that we are undertaking the dismantling of systemic racism. We must be truthful with ourselves. We've got to face the role that our political infrastructure has played in its creation and its perpetuation. Some examples of some of this work that we've done up until now is the work that you've done in your committee in title 17 as you've removed much of the language of freemen, if you recall last biennium. The constitutional amendment of 1994 also sought to do some of that work. The current and the existing language of chapter 42 of this same constitution still requires that work and we'll be back to finish it. And even in rule 84 of our Senate, thank you, even in rule 84 of our Senate, we see that there's still work to be done in addressing this language. It's vitally important that we acknowledge that for the last 245 years slavery has been prohibited only after arriving at the age of 21, years of age or bound by a person's own consent and the like. I'll submit in my testimony some language from the United Nations and you'll also hear more from testimony from those who are gonna be joining us with the abolished slavery national network. We stated in our original purpose that this is gonna serve as the foundation for addressing systemic racism in our state's laws and institution. That's what we're here to do. It's just the work that we started. It's the work that we're gonna complete. I appreciate the work of the committee, the work that you're doing, we're confident that you will pass this through again, unanimously. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Reverend Hughes. Next up will be Max Parthas and on deck is Kamau Allen. So welcome Max. Thank you for being with us. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Greetings, Madam Chair, Co-Chair and esteemed members of this committee. I'm here in support of PR2 on behalf of the Abolished Slavery National Network. I'm the Co-Director for Operations of States. I was asked to say a few things as you heard earlier and so I'll begin. What we are experiencing right now in the form of enslavement as a punishment for an alleged crime and the largest prison population who have ever existed on earth can be called the Vermont Butterfly Effect. In chaos theory, the butterfly effect is the sensitive dependence of a system on initial conditions in which a small change in one state can result in exponential differences in a later state. And here we are in that later state post-1777 convict leasing schemes with 25 states, one territory, one district and a federal constitutional amendment all based on loopholes for slavery and involuntary servitude introduced by the state of Vermont. In a decade, we saw the CE take root nationally. In 1787, it was found in the Northwest Ordinance along with fugitive slave law support. In 1806, Ohio State Constitution adopted it. In 1843, Oregon got a hold of it. In 1861, it came out in the Corbyn Amendment which would have made slavery constitutionally untouchable. And in 1861, Alabama put it in their state constitution. And I wanna make mention of Alabama in particular. It's a statement about intent. In 1883, about 10% of Alabama's total revenue was derived from convict leasing and 80% from slavery related industries. In 1898, nearly 73% of total revenue came from the same source. So they just switched from the individual owning people to the state managing it and took very little in economic loss because of that. And not just Alabama faced economic reversal. In 1860, 80% of the nation's gross national product was tied to slavery. We saw it again in 1862 in an act for the release of certain persons held service or labor in the District of Columbia which was supported by Abraham Lincoln. And then lastly, we saw it in the 1865 amendment to our US Constitution which says that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude except as a punishment for crime where the party shall have been duly convicted shall exist within the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Just by having this exception clause in your state and federal constitutions is a violation of multiple international human rights treaties, including article four of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights from the 1948 UN General Assembly that says no one shall be held in slavery or servitude. Slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms. That these are among fundamental human rights to be universally protected as the foundations of freedom, justice and peace in the world. While denouncing China for prison labor we're creating media content appealing to international corporations to use prison labor. Vermont is also involved in illegal human trafficking in which offenders from your state are shipped to Mississippi where they committed no crimes. We hear the change that now. As of today, there are 13 states with legislation to remove those pro-slavery exceptions. Several are already on the ballot for 2022 just as you will be. Given the citizens the right to choose for or against the state owning people as property as Oregon, Tennessee, Alabama, California, Ohio, Florida, Nevada, New Jersey, Texas, Minnesota, Louisiana and New York, including Vermont. 15 additional states are organizing to submit their legislation. And finally, a federal joint resolution is on the table introducing a potential 28th amendment which like the 21st did for the 18th after prohibition repeal the offensive and destructive exception. 34 US states and territories are involved in this national effort today. I'm not gonna say a whole lot more other than that not only is the nation watching and very concerned with what's happening here right now in Vermont but it also has international implications when we're talking about for-profit private prisons that have become global monstrosities. I would like to end with a quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. And he said that I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by here in South Carolina and not be concerned about what happens in Vermont. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with a narrow provincial outside agitator idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outside agitator anywhere within its bounds. Thank you for your time. Thank you for being with us, Max. Next, I'd like to welcome Kamau Allen and on Jack will be Damita Bishop. Welcome. Thank you so much for having me. I'm also really glad that you pronounced my name correctly. It is Kamau Allen. I am the lead organizer and co-founder of the Abola Slavery National Network. And it is an absolute honor to be here today to express my unequivocal support for PR2. Today, I'm not only asking that you pass this out of committee, but I am actually inviting you all, each of you to join a story of justice that is being written by organizers and legislators and clergy persons and incarcerated people and formerly incarcerated people and community folks like myself all across this nation and coast to coast. Though I don't live in Vermont, I've been here before. In 2018, I helped to lead the campaign in Colorado that helped Colorado become the first state to abolish slavery and voluntary servitude from a state constitution. At the time I was about 23 years old and I woke up every day not feeling like I had no idea what I was doing. But there were men and women from my community organization from my church, from my neighbors who supported me and helped us to create history in our nation. Amendment A passed as a bipartisan effort. It was an effort that both Republicans and Democrats understood to be a moral issue as well as an issue of absolute urgency. That nowhere in our constitution which we recognize as not only our state's founding document but as one of the most powerful living documents that a state could have, nowhere within such a document should slavery have any forms of loopholes. Shortly after passing Amendment A in Colorado, dozens of organizers reached out to us from across the state, including Utah, Nebraska, California, New Jersey, South Carolina, and others. Together with Max Parthas who you just heard from, we formed what is called the Abola Slavery National Network. And shortly thereafter, the organizers that we were supporting and connected to passed similar legislation, not only onto the ballots in Utah and Nebraska, but were successful in abolishing slavery from their constitutions there. And today we push forward. We've also in relationship with US Senator Jeff Merkley and Congresswoman Nkema Williams, the Abola Slavery National Network partnered with 70 national organizations to address the slavery loophole that exists in the 13th Amendment of the United States Constitution. And that effort was initiated on Juneteenth of 2021. We're doing this because our constitution is not only a sacred document, but a living one. One that should attest to and affirm the rights and liberty and the pursuit of happiness of every single member that it's designed to protect. We're doing this because we understand that slavery is wrong and that a loophole that exists for slavery today is wrong. I do this personally because as a black man, my ancestors survived the horrors of chattel slavery in the South. I do this as a black man because I've lost too many family members to conditions of incarceration that I call many others call slavery. Today we are asking you to join us in making history. It is an honor to support Dr. Mark Hughes. It is an honor to support PR2. It is an honor to be here today. Please vote yes on PR2. Thank you. Thank you so much. Next up, we have Damita Bishop and on deck is Patrick Otilio. Welcome Damita, you are welcome to unmute and share your thoughts. Damita, are you able to unmute? Can you all hear me? Yes, we can. Well, that's for that. Thank you. Thank you all for having me. My name is Damita Bishop and I am the CEO of FAIR which stands for Fighting Against Institutionalized Railroading and it's based out of Atlanta, Georgia. Well, a lot of people have already pretty much cited the things I wanted to cite out of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. But the one thing I do wanna point out is that the United States agrees to the 30 articles of the Declaration of Human Rights and yet the prison system goes against the very element that they tend to agree to on us as humans. And although we can say that blacks are the majority in these prisons, there's all nationalities and races affected by being incarcerated in the prisons. You can't ignore the fact that they're being treated as slaves when you look at the conditions inside these facilities, they're inhumane, everything from what they're eating to the cages that they're living in all the way to their lack of healthcare. Nationally, I get calls from facilities but in the state of Vermont, I only have two at this moment. I have one in Southeast corrections that continuously calls out to us about how they were wrongfully incarcerated as well as the conditions that he's living in, excuse me. And then we have one in Rutland County jail who is waiting to be sentenced but already experiencing the inhumane treatment in a county jail. I ask that you take a look at the facilities and just if nothing else, take a look at the conditions of these prisons and you'll see more than ever that they're living almost worse than the slaves live in colonial times. How can the United States agree that we should all be treated as humans but then when you get in their prisons, they're treating humans worse than they treat animals. I really don't have much more to say than that. Everybody pretty much touched on the things I wanted to touch on but I do ask that you all go into these facilities, take a look for yourself, speak to some of the people that's incarcerated, get to know them and I guarantee you you will vote the right way. Thank you. Thank you for being with us tonight. Next I have Patrick Attilio and on deck is Karen Sita. Welcome, Patrick. There we are. Thank you. Can you hear me all right? Yes, we can. Okay, great. My name is Patrick Attilio. I am a resident in Coochie, Vermont and thank you, Madam Chair for the opportunity to speak today. I support the passage of PR2 and would like to briefly give my own perspective on why this committee should support its passage. We live in uncertain times. The political climate in Vermont and the US grows ever more polarized and contentious. Our founding documents serve as the basis for many such disagreements. They are receiving ever more scrutiny by our courts and politicians in attempts to make a case either for reform or for bringing us back to the good old days, quotes. Thank you. In spite of their age, the US and Vermont constitutions are essential living documents that we reference all the time and rely on to support our democratic principles. The US Constitution and Bill of Rights provides many examples of ambiguous language as resulted in markedly different competing interpretations in the public square. This is true today, it's been true for a long time. The Vermont Constitution is clearly not immune from this kind of dispute. Years of clear court precedent flowing from Article I support the assertion that slavery is illegal in Vermont. But the language of Article I is unclear and confusing to our modern years. So in our uncertain times, we should embrace clarity and certainty where we can find it by making this change to Article I. The cost of making this is low, but it will put minds at ease. By doing so, we can perhaps shed a little light, put this behind us and then move on to other important concerns. So I ask this community to approve PR2 and to prove it to be brought for a full vote in front of the house. Thank you again for your time. Thank you for being with us tonight. Next up, I have Karen Sita and on deck is Isaac Owusu. Welcome, Karen. Can everyone hear me? Yes, we can, thank you. Okay, great, welcome. So I just wanted to say a shout out to all the people who are doing this for our children's children because those are who are going to suffer if we don't do something today. Also, I always love Marcus Garvey. So let me start with Marcus Garvey, who says people without knowledge of their past, history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots. And it's time for us to be people who are rooted and rooted in a brighter future for ourselves. And it's also time for us to realize, plants don't survive without roots. Our roots are extremely racist. Our roots are extremely hateful. Our roots are extremely painful and full of economic disadvantage of people of our community, black people of our community. And it's time for us to move forward. I'm someone who knows what it's like to be civilly imprisoned. I'm someone who knows what it's like to have innocence in your eyes and freedom in your heart. And also desire the law to set you free. And it was the law that set me free. And it can be the law that can set us free. And we need to remember that. We need to remember that, you know, our constitution reminds us what is important. And if this is what is important to us, if, you know, the freedom of black people is what is important to this state, then our constitution will reflect that. And our children will be able to look back and know that it's been reflected in our constitution. We are people, I don't know where my, I can't see it. Anyways, and it's time for us to continue to move forward in the, can you guys all hear me and see me? We can't see you, but we can definitely hear you. Okay, tell me when my time's up somebody. And also, you know, we need to remember that we're not doing it for ourselves and just for today, our children's children. So again, you know, Vermont loves to garden. People in Vermont are great gardeners. What are we planting? Are we planting seeds of freedom? Are we planting free where people feel like they have a voice? You know, if we planted freedom, you know, we would see more chocolate black women in these panels. We will see more chocolate black women part of the state house. We would see more chocolate black women, you know, living and thriving in the state. We're not just trying to survive, we're trying to thrive. And you know, we need to do it now. This is the moment, this is the moment where the future is looking at us and saying, what are you going to do? If you care about it, you write it into law. If you care about it, you write it into law. And I'm going to say that again, because that is what gets us free is our ability to write effectively what we care about and make it law. And we can make it law. We have an opportunity to make it law. And our voice is important and our vote is important. And who we care about reflects how we vote. I mean, how dare us, you know, let this thing just pass and not let the people vote on it. We need to vote on it. We need to show people that we care about you black people and you can look at your constitution and know that we care about you. Instead of always wondering as a black woman living in this state, does my state that I love so much care about me? I mean, the state song says, Vermont is where the heart is. What does our heart say? Does our heart say love? Does our heart say, you know, we care about people here? Is love about what we're speaking or is it the constant hate that we were birthed in? I mean, it's time to speak the language of love. It's time to speak the language of love in written law. So, you know, we need to pass this. I'm here for passing and I'm here for all the people, again, who are doing it for the children's children. And we're going to see seeds. We're going to bear fruit if we do it now. But if we don't do it now, who knows what's gonna come up? Who knows what more racism we're gonna deal with? What other fruit? If we need to plant the seeds and bear the fruit that is full of love that shows people that we care about them. So, shout out to the lawyers who are part of this mission, shout out to the mothers who are part of this mission, shout out to the college students who are part of this mission, how and your beautiful wife, hope you're well. You know, shout out to people who are constantly in the fight, who care, who cry about it, who pray about it, who vote about it, deal to the people that are important. So, you know, let's bear fruit and may that fruit that we bear be a seed of love. Again, I know what it's like to be in prison. I know what it's like to have innocent in your eyes and to desire the law to set you free. And if the law can set me free, it can set us all free. I'm done. Thank you for being with us tonight. Next up, we have Isaac Awusu and on deck is Nathan Woodliffe Stanley. So welcome, Isaac. Go ahead and unmute yourself. Hello, and thank you. I want to give you a round of applause for pronouncing my name correctly as well. Good evening reps. My name is Isaac Awusu. I'm the director of community engagement support with the Vermont Racial Justice Alliance. We want to extend our appreciation for guys having us in this space. We recognize it as very significant space and I even wore my important jacket as Mark would say. So ordinarily, one thing about these spaces is the people that these bills and these constitutions, these laws are impacting, they do not have a voice. And you know, the people voting for them don't have the personal insight nor the lived experience to get a greater understanding. But I'm here to let you guys know slavery is alive. It is very much alive. So as Karen mentioned, you know, she has lived that lived experience and I'm here, I can provide some real insight because I've been there as well. So in prison, they're incarcerated for a regular job, which is mopping, laundry, kitchen, et cetera. The pay is 25 cents upwards of 40 cents in Vermont. And you can find that information on prisonpolicy.org for the industry jobs, VCI, correction industry jobs. You're looking at 25 cents to $1.25. Now, back of course, he is $5,055. A bottle of water is $1.47. So you do the math and you know, if you see on average to get a bottle of water, you're looking at three hours worth of work. That's inhumane. Now, to know a little bit deeper, you do not have a choice in the prison system. You are required to work. Let me repeat that again, you do not have a choice, you are required to work. Now, if you refuse to work, I'll give you some insight on what that looks like. One, you get a writer, which can affect your ability to get out on parole, affect your ability to have a certain rights in there. Another option, they can throw you in the shoe or the hole, which is essentially solitary confinement. You're locked in for 22 hours to 40, sorry, to 24 hours of the day with minimal contact. You're eating the most inhumane food possible. Loss of privileges. You lose phone, commissary visits, TV recreation. Again, loss of good time, which can affect your early release as well. You can also be transferred to a different facility out of the state, further away from your family. Now, all that being said, all this deters from the person's rehabilitation in there. You're already essentially in what is hell on earth, in jail now, if you have no choice and you have to work. Now imagine a person in there who is there for rehabilitation, gets out, doesn't have the proper tools necessary because it was, you know, rebelling and did not want to be essentially a slave. So I mean, that's, I can provide more insight but we can, you know, spend all night on how much these gels get paid per inmate, how much they get paid for the item. That's a separate conversation. The alliance recognizes you guys, you know, as allies and we do appreciate you guys voting unanimously for Prop 2 previously to this session as well. So again, please, please, let's work together. Let's hold hands and undo this unjust. Please vote Prop 2. Please vote Prop 2. Thank you guys. Thank you, Mr. Oluse. Next up, we have Nathan Woodliffe Stanley and on deck will be Christine Longmore Hughes. So welcome, Nathan. Thank you, Madam Chair and members of the committee. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. My name is Nathan Woodliffe Stanley, a member of the leadership team of the Abolish Slavery National Network. And I speak in favor of Prop 2. I'm also a Unitarian Universalist minister and I am the former executive director of the ACLU of Colorado. When I was in that position, we actively supported amendment A to abolish slavery and involuntary servitude from the Colorado state constitution by removing the exception that allowed slavery and involuntary servitude as a punishment for crime. That amendment was placed on the 2018 ballot by a unanimous bipartisan vote of the Colorado legislature and it passed on election day by about a two to one margin. Now the Colorado constitution states there shall never be in this state either slavery or involuntary servitude, period. There is no longer an exception including as punishment for crime. The exception clause that had been in the Colorado constitution was of course similar to the exception clause in the 13th amendment to the US constitution. The exception clause was abused extensively especially after reconstruction by practices such as convict leasing which produced significant revenue for many states. It is still the case today that many incarcerated people are treated for all practical purposes as slaves of the state. We incarcerate more people in this nation than anywhere else in the world and black Americans are disproportionately imprisoned in the words of Michelle Alexander, it is the new Jim Crow. The process of responding to amendment A in Colorado in legal legislative or administrative ways has been admittedly slow but there should be no doubt that it was an essential first step to declare that whatever you think about criminal justice no matter how we respond to crime it should not even possibly be with slavery and involuntary servitude. People seeking to abolish constitutional slavery in other states contacted our organizer Kamau Allen who you've heard from and we organized the abolish slavery national network supporting Nebraska and Utah in their successful abolition efforts in 2020. It would be especially meaningful for Vermont to make a firm statement against slavery and involuntary or indentured servitude in all circumstances. Since as I understand the history Vermont was the first state to use exception clause language in a partial prohibition of slavery. It would be an important way to set right a historical wrong to prevent future abuses to set an example for our nation and the possibility of change at the federal level and to start a discussion about addressing criminal justice today in more humane and constructive ways. Please vote yes on proposal two. Thank you for being with us. Next up we have Christine Longmore Hughes and on deck is Yitan Nasred in Mongo. Welcome Christine. Hi, thank you for having me. I'm glad to be here tonight and offer my comments on this historic moment. Here I am. I also might say a couple of things that other people have already said. I'm the daughter and sister and wife of American descendants of slaves. I grew up here in Vermont and have been here since the mid-70s. I'm also the mother of four children born and raised in Vermont. I have three beautiful grandchildren who all call Vermont home. I'm also a member of New Alpha Missionary Baptist Church in Burlington that was founded in 1989 and is the only black Baptist church in the state. And I spent about 12 years serving people that were coming out of Vermont prisons in the Chittenden County area at the CJC helping them find employment. So I've seen a lot of this firsthand and I've been in most of our prisons in Vermont. We live in a society made up of rules, laws, ordinances, formal and informal. When people violate laws, there's a response. The offender can't use ignorance of the law as an excuse for breaking it. Similarly, ignorance to the constitution that you sworn oath to is not acceptable. For so many people that have participated in information sessions and webinars that the Vermont Racial Justice Alliance has presented on this topic, it has been a teachable moment. And like so many things in American culture, politics and government, the exception clause is hidden in plain sight. You are public servants elected to serve the public. We are the public. While black Americans only represent a small portion of the total population of our brave little state, we matter. We are here and more of us are coming here. We're giving birth to a new homegrown generation of Vermonters. And at the same time, most of our jails and prison populations are white. Most poor people in our country and in this state are white. Most black people are poor. If I say welfare queen, super predator, thug, or other words like that, what images come to your mind? And why is that? The constitution of our state and other states in the country and the United States constitution were all created by white men. Fortunately, it was also designed with room for adaptation to reflect the current needs of the public. It should never be looked at as a tool to preserve history. We have plenty of places like historical societies, libraries, and et cetera for that purpose. Many of us believe that the constitution is a tool to ensure that individual and human rights are preserved and protected. The truth is, since its original form, it has been used and misused to create political and economic power for white men. That was done by design. It's the secret ingredient for the prison industrial complex. And if you don't have a full understanding of that, you should really spend some time trying to understand why that's true and how that's true. And for a world perspective, as it's already been said, in the United States, we are 5% of the world's total population but have more than 20% of the world's total prison population. And like someone else said, the United Nations condemns the United States for this reason and called it a crime against humanity. This country and the state systems have hurt more white people than black, even though black and brown people have been at the center of the target of police and other systems that consistently impress people who are not white. PR2 is a historic opportunity. Legislators, this is your opportunity to live up to the oath of office you swore. Let's bring some real meaning to phrases like justice for all, equal protection under the law, the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness in our brave little state. Please pass PR2. Thanks. Thank you for being with us tonight. Next, we have Yuten, Nassred and Longo and on deck, we will have Sean Darling. Welcome, Yuten. I'm taking a moment to get used to this different form of Zoom. Ah, there, thank you. Good evening, Madam Chair and representatives. What I have to say is relatively brief, personal and political. I am a co-director of Farron and Partial Policing and Community Affairs for the Vermont State Police and an equity advisor for the Department of Public Safety. I volunteered at the forum position for many years because I believe that work to be service like any other service to the community. I also serve as chair of the ARDAP. This is also a form of community service to my mind. My first two positions became paid positions in the late summer of 2020, but the idea of giving freely to one's communities is always uppermost in my mind. The language in the state constitution that is under discussion has been extensively critiqued by history itself and by many evolved forms of ethics. The proposed language to replace it would seem to be obvious in any decent society. Such language would make my work for Vermonters less ironic as it presently is. At worst, which is to say with the present language, my work is not merely ironic, but rather hideously laughable and perhaps even useless. I find this to be true if indentured servitude, a vile relic seemingly out of the work of Charles Dickens can still be operative. I sincerely hope that my thoughts resonate with this body and can help it to see that it is a burden, a burden to work for Vermont when such revolting and ancient language rests over the heads of the dispossessed like an old and unwelcome storm cloud. Thank you. Thank you for joining us tonight. Next up, we have Sean Darling and on deck is Gianna Kenney. Welcome Sean. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you tonight. My name is Sean Darling. I'm calling in from Maine. Been working with the Abolish Slavery National Network learning from Max and from Mark and Kamau and others about the history of the 13th Amendment, how it exists federally and how it exists on a state level. I think what the issue is about education. We need to educate this country about how there's never fully been, sorry, there's never been full legal personhood for black bodies, which allow them to be enslaved to this day. Obviously there's a lot of important issues going on right now. As far as the boarding rights, the 14th Amendment, the 15th Amendment, these are all in my mind connected. And so I would fully urge you to support PR2 and put it to vote for the voters. Thank you so much. Thank you for being with us tonight. Next up, we have Gianna Kenney and on deck is Tribal Rain. Hi, everyone. How are you? My name is Gianna Kenney and I am the president and co-founder of Epic ensuring parole for incarcerated citizens here in the state of Ohio. I am also a state organizer with Abolish Slavery National Network and I'm here today because of Vermont. 29 years later, Ohio introduced the same legislation, which I am currently doing my diligence to make sure that our lawmakers do the same as your committee is doing. And hopefully we can pass it out of this committee that it's been sitting in for the last year, but Senator Cecil Thomas wanted to be trailblazers and ending the exception clause. And it's great to see that Vermont has kind of passed us because let's be honest, I've been working with Abolish Slavery National Network for a year and a half. And this is my second rodeo trying to get this legislation even out there, right? But I am joined here in solidarity and unity with many others in support of PR2, urging the committee to please unanimously pass this and allow the citizens of Vermont to vote whether or not slavery should still be practiced. I came unprepared, it was the last minute thing, so I apologize, but it's the right thing to do. In order for us to move forward in any type of advocacy work we are doing, this is the first step. We need to end the exception and abolish slavery once and for all and for all under no circumstances shall there be slavery. So I come together with most of the people on this call to urge you to please allow the citizens of Vermont to take a stance because this is a moral issue that shouldn't be up to the government period. And with that being said, I appreciate you guys for allowing not only in-house statements and testimony but allowing this platform for not just the citizens of Vermont for anybody that wanted to be on the call because Ohio doesn't do this, so kadoos for that. And we hope to hear that your committee unanimously passes this on to the next rodeo. Thank you. Thank you Ms. Kenny for zooming to Vermont to be with us tonight. We love this technology in the way it allows us people to come together. Next up we have Tribal Rain and then last on our list of registrants for tonight is Jeanette Smith. Welcome Tribal. Hi, can you hear me? Yes, we can. My name is Tribal Rain. I am a member of the ASNN and also co-founder of the Paul Cuffy Abolitionist Center. I am not going to waste your time by going over what my colleagues have gone over. You know how important the issue is. You know what you should do. And I just want to say I stand in support of PR2 and I hope you vote the same. Thank you. Thank you for being with us tonight. You're welcome. All right, last on our list of registrants is Jeanette Smith. Welcome, Jeanette. If you can unmute yourself, we would love to hear. Okay, can you hear me now? Yes, we can. Thank you. Okay, I'm sorry. Thank you. Thank you for hearing me. I am a slavery abolitionist. I'm calling from Pillion, South Carolina. I do have family in Vermont and Burlington. So I wanted to call in tonight. I am friends with a lot of the people who've called in tonight, especially Max Barthas and Tribal Reign. And I just kind of unprepared as well, calling last minute, just wanting to say that I support PR2 as well and hope you vote on that to end the exception language and the Vermont Constitution. Thank you. Thank you for being with us tonight, Ms. Smith. Thank you. So I want to say thank you to all of the folks from across Vermont and indeed across the country who came out tonight virtually to join us for this public hearing. I would like to remind folks that if you wish to submit your testimony in writing, you can do so to the email address testimony at leg.state.bt.us. So whether you delivered your remarks tonight via Zoom or not, we would be happy to take your testimony on this proposed constitutional amendment. Just a reminder that our committee is intending to move this out to the floor of the house and we take that role very seriously to inform our colleagues about why we believe we should move this constitutional amendment forward. But the final stop is with the people of the state of Vermont. And in November's election, if this measure passes the general assembly, the governor will put it before the electorate of Vermont. And so Vermonters will have one opportunity here in November of 2022 to vote on this proposed constitutional amendment. It is a long process to amend our constitution and intentionally so. So we certainly hope that Vermonters will engage in this conversation over the next several months. And when they get their ballot in the mail for the November election, we certainly hope they will cast their vote and return their ballot so that all Vermonters will have the opportunity to weigh in on this. So thank you again for coming out tonight.