END SLAVERY
in Virginia!
Together, We Can End All Forms of Slavery in Virginia for the First Time in History
Our Mission
Our mission is to eradicate modern-day slavery in Virginia in all its forms. By amending Virginia's state constitution to close the "exception clause," we can fully abolish slavery — without exceptions. This is a critical step toward breaking free from a legacy of systemic racism, oppression, and exploitation. Slavery is never acceptable, under any circumstances. It's time for Virginia to stand on the right side of history and ensure true freedom for all.
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Did you know...
Slavery is NEVER acceptable, under ANY circumstances, not as a punishment for crime, not in immigrant detention centers, not EVER. Slavery in our country started right here in the Commonwealth. Lets take back our narrative and take the lead in abolishing ALL forms slavery, once and for all.
That slavery was never actually fully abolished?
In the wording of the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution lies a loophole that would come to be known as the 'Exception Clause'. It states:
"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."
That loophole let the South rebuild slavery almost overnight. States passed "Black Codes" criminalizing things like homelessness or not carrying proof of employment, then leased the newly "convicted" — overwhelmingly Black Americans — to plantations and corporations as forced labor. It was profitable for everyone but the people doing the work.
Convict leasing officially ended, but the incentive didn't. The War on Drugs, mandatory minimums, and three-strikes laws kept the same labor pool flowing through mass incarceration. Today the same logic reaches immigration detention: detainees with no criminal history are pressured to work for as little as $1 a day, under threat of isolation or deprivation, labeled "voluntary" the way convict leasing once was.
One exception. One unbroken line. [Learn more →]
Today, detained immigrants—most of whom have no criminal history—are compelled to work inside detention facilities under threat of punishment, isolation, or deprivation of basic necessities. Like convict leasing, this labor is labeled “voluntary” while operating under coercive conditions that deny people any meaningful choice. Private detention corporations and government agencies benefit from drastically reduced operating costs, while detained people perform essential labor for wages as low as $1 per day.
Learn more about the connections among mass incarceration, immigrant detention, and the prison-industrial complex—and why confronting any one of these systems requires a unified struggle against them all—here.
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VIRGINIA HAS NEVEr FULLY PROHIBITED
SLAVERY.
WE’RE CHANGING THAT.
Abolish Slavery Virginia is building the statewide movement to end slavery and involuntary servitude in the Commonwealth—including in prisons and immigration detention—and build a future where everyone’s freedom is protected, no exceptions.
