New group to focus on empowerment, constitutional reform

A new group comprised of longtime grassroots community activists from across the U.S. officially launched its efforts late last month to empower and uplift communities of color by advocating for justice reforms and changes to the U.S. Constitution that would no longer allow the “law of the land” to treat people of color and the poor like modern-day slaves in America.

The organization, One Million Conscious Black Voters & Contributors (OMCBV&C), held a press conference on Thursday, Feb. 25, during which it outlines its goals and objectives.

In a statement issued Feb. 25, One Million Conscious Black Voters and Contributors said it is issuing “a call for America to step up and discern for the American people whether the U.S. Constitution is the Supreme Law of the Land and if so why America has chosen to ignore its power.

“Within the confines of the call for America to take a stance is the unusual framing of white supremacy within the bowels of the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The OMCBV&C is calling for the abolishment to the 13th Amendment by way of revising the language to exclude, ‘except for punishments of crimes.’ The OMCBV&C has identified this language as the root cause that gives law enforcement and others, an open season on killing Black people in America.

“Because of the 100 years since the inclusion of the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, America has experienced a wave of non-compliance to the abolishment of slavery. Greater piercing is the fact that the exception of the 13th Amendment has allowed law enforcement to interpret a probable cause window of acceptability when we realize the conviction of a Black person is a sentence back into slavery from which there is no emancipation. Therefore, anyone considered non-white can be assumed to be a runaway slave for which no probable cause is necessary.

“It is obvious that this attitude is a prevailing one from the unwillingness of the Criminal Justice System to prosecute law enforcement officers in both questionable and non-questionable shootings and killings of non-white persons. It is therefore necessary for the OMCBV&C to select and effect Black Constitutional Patriots to use whatever electoral power Black people have to bring about the changes necessary to protect the Black population in America.”

This article originally published in the March 7, 2016 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.