Letter to the editor: Time for Pa. to formally abolish slavery

Slavery may have been a footnote in the news, but in the last election, Nevada voted to end slavery as a punishment for a crime in its constitution.

“What? I thought slavery was abolished a long time ago,” you might say.

Practically, yes — there are laws against all forms of slavery across the United States. But when you drill down into the weeds, there are three caveats:

• The famous 13th Amendment to the Constitution allows slavery as a punishment for a crime.

• Several states have a corresponding exception in their constitutions.

• Several states do not mention slavery one way or the other in their constitutions.

Pennsylvania falls into the third category. Pennsylvania was an incubator for the anti- slavery Republican Party. The Republican National Committee was formed in Pittsburgh on Feb. 22, 1856, in direct reaction to the pro- slavery Kansas-Nebraska act. How could such a state that was a nexus of the anti-slavery party not do away with it in its constitution?

Nine states have blazed the trail for us already: Rhode Island, Alabama, Tennessee, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, Oregon and Nevada. If they can do it, we can do it. It aligns with the history of our state and is something on which we all agree.

I created a petition to deliver to my state senator to get the ball rolling in Pennsylvania: sign.moveon.org/p/paabolish.

Let’s be the 10th state to formally abolish slavery!

Benjamin George Sarkis

Ross