@AndreHenry reminds us that the 13th Amendment's reputation as the law that abolished slavery ignores that it simultaneously protected that same right. In its first clause and with a mere 14 words ("except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted"), the amendment codified continuation of involuntary servitude, contributing to the most fundamental biases and inequities in our criminal justice system, and thus society as a whole. At this moment when “Black Lives Matter” has mobilized so many, when criminal justice reform embraced more widely, and cries to defund the police have made their way from street corners to city councils, we cannot ignore the fact that our nation could not even get through its first formal denouncement of slavery without providing rationale and protection for its continuation. A campaign to "Amend the Amendment" is needed -- a nationwide effort to strike 14 words from the 13th Amendment. Words matter. From "I Can't Breathe" last May to "Guilty" last week, let's "strike 14 from 13" as our next use of language to bring change.