Why slavery is on the ballot in five states – National & International News – THU 27Oct2022

Why slavery is on the ballot in five states. STL school shooter used rifle previously confiscated by police. UN: World’s efforts to avert climate catastrophe “highly inadequate”.

NATIONAL NEWS

Why slavery is on the ballot in five states

This November, voters in Vermont, Oregon, Louisiana, Alabama and Tennessee will decide whether to amend their states’ constitutions to abolish slavery in all forms, including prison labor. The 13th Amendment to the US Constitution abolished slavery, with the exception of allowing it as “punishment for a crime”. During Reconstruction, this exception incentivized many states to pass laws now called the Black Codes. These laws enabled states to incarcerate black people in huge numbers for minor infractions and force them to work. The practice of involuntary, unpaid labor still persists in prisons in many states.

Recently, prisoners in Alabama went on strike, refusing to perform unpaid work in prisons’ food services, maintenance and laundry facilities. Prisoners said the strike was to protest inhumane and unsafe conditions in prisons rather than the unpaid labor itself. In response, Alabama’s Department of Corrections cut back prisoners’ daily meals from 3 to 2 and canceled weekend visits. Prisoners said these were retaliation, but ADOC cutbacks were necessary as they couldn’t fully function without the prisoners’ unpaid labor.

In 2017, a Louisiana sheriff infamously complained that parole reforms wouldn’t leave him with enough “good prisoners” to perform unpaid work. “In addition to [releasing] the bad ones”, Caddo Parish Sheriff Steve Prator said, “they are releasing some good ones that we use everyday to wash cars, change the oil in our cars, to cook in the kitchen, to do all that, where we save money”.

These sentiments are echoed by correction officials who are opposing the ballot measures in all five states. Savannah Eldridge of the Abolish Slavery National Network draws a parallel between these objections and the arguments against ending slavery over 160 years ago. ” ‘We know it’s wrong, but we can’t afford to end slavery,’ ” Eldridge says. “It doesn’t even sound right.”

STL school shooter used rifle previously confiscated by police

The parents of 19-year-old Orlando Harris, who carried out Monday’s deadly shooting at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School in St. Louis, MO, struggled for years to get him help with his mental health issues. They’d arranged treatment for him, got him medication and even committed him to a mental health facility. On Oct. 15, Harris’ mother was alarmed to discovered an AR-15 style rifle among her son’s possessions. She called police, asking that they remove the weapon from the home.

Missouri does not currently have a “red-flag” law. Red-flag laws enable police officials to confiscate weapons with a court order. Confiscation can be initiated by guardians, family members, or law enforcement when a person is deemed a threat to themselves or others. But without such a law in place in Missouri, the police that answered Harris’ mother’s call had no choice to conclude that Harris was legally permitted to own the firearm, despite his mental health history. However, police did arrange for an adult third party known to the family to take possession of the rifle.

Unfortunately, this was the very same gun that Harris used to murder a 16-year-old student and a 61-year-old teacher at the school just 9 days later. Police say they are unsure how Harris got it back.

St. Louis Police Commissioner Michael Sack says, “I’ve got to give credit to [Harris’] family. They made every effort that they felt that they reasonably could. And I think that’s why the mother is so heartbroken over the families that paid for his episode”.

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

UN: Nations’ efforts to avert climate catastrophe “highly inadequate”

The United Nations Environment Program issued its Emissions Gap report today and the findings are grim. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres summed it up by saying, “Global and national climate commitments are falling pitifully short. We are headed for a global catastrophe”.

Bill Hare, head of Climate Analytics, says the report, “confirms the utterly glacial pace of climate action, despite the looming precipice of climate tipping points we’re approaching”.

The report finds that the world’s leading climate polluting nations are not doing nearly enough to head off the worst consequences of climate change. Even those nations’ goals are “highly inadequate”. Even if every nation honored their commitments in the 2015 Paris Climate Accords (which they aren’t), average global temperatures would rise by 2.8 degrees Celsius (5 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2100. This falls far short of the goal of limiting warming to 2 degrees Celsius, the tipping point at which the planet will experience the worst effects of climate change.

The main culprit is fossil fuels and world leaders’ unwillingness to wean us off of them quickly enough. UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen says that to avert disaster, we would have to reduce current emissions by 45% by 2030.

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