Four Tennessee Republicans vote against removing slavery from the state constitution
Swikar Oli
3/19/2021
On the matter of removing ‘slavery’ as punishment from the state’s constitution, four Tennessee senate Republicans took exception
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© Provided by National Post Tennessee State Senator Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown, was one of four Republicans to vote against a bill that would remove 'slavery' as punishment for crimes from the state's constitution
Members Joey Hensley, Janice Bowling, Brian Kelsey, and Frank Nicely on March 15 voted against a bill put forward by Democrat Sen. Raumesh Akbari that would remove a constitutional clause allowing slavery as punishment for a crime.
“Slavery and involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted , are forever prohibited in this state,” states Article I Section 33 of the Tennessee constitution.
With Akbari’s bill, voters will have the option to remove that section and instead amend the constitution to make clear that slavery and involuntary servitude is banned throughout Tennessee.
A line in the bill further states, at the request of the Department of Correction, that “nothing in this section shall prohibit an inmate from working when the inmate has been duly convicted of a crime”.
Members Joey Hensley, Janice Bowling, Brian Kelsey, and Frank Nicely on March 15 voted against a bill put forward by Democrat Sen. Raumesh Akbari that would remove a constitutional clause allowing slavery as punishment for a crime.
“Slavery and involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted , are forever prohibited in this state,” states Article I Section 33 of the Tennessee constitution.
With Akbari’s bill, voters will have the option to remove that section and instead amend the constitution to make clear that slavery and involuntary servitude is banned throughout Tennessee.
A line in the bill further states, at the request of the Department of Correction, that “nothing in this section shall prohibit an inmate from working when the inmate has been duly convicted of a crime”.
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To make changes to the Tennessee constitution, the bill must pass two general assemblies each in the house and senate, first by a majority, then by two-thirds. Tennesseans will then vote in a ballot measure to ultimately decide whether to ratify the proposed amendment in a gubernatorial election.
Kelsey, a white Republican from Memphis, told WREG news he decided to vote against the bill because it added no further restrictions on slavery to the law.
Hensley said, “I didn’t think it was necessary because the constitution already says slavery will be forever prohibited.”
Akbari, a black Democrat also from Memphis, said the bill “closes [a] loophole.”
“There’s a difference between working and slavery,” she explained . “I’ve worked, I’ve never been a slave.”
Curiously, the 13th amendment of the U.S. federal constitution, which abolished slavery, created a similar loophole.
The amendment, passed in 1865, proclaims, “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.”
Tennessee seceded from the Union in 1861, during the American Civil War, and was the 20th state, on April 7, 1865, to ratify the 13th amendment of the federal constitution. In 1860, nearly 25 per cent of the state population, or 275,719 people, were held as slaves.
Akbari said the reason for her provision is because “it will make an impact.”
“It will close a loophole that will forever eliminate any exception for slavery in the state of Tennessee, and I think that’s what we want, and that’s a strong message we can send as a state.”
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