A celebration of almost somewhat banning slavery
Today is Juneteenth in the United States. It's a complicated holiday–Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation (which declared enslaved people free) on January 1, 1863, but that's not the date we celebrate. The 13th amendment to the constitution (which almost somewhat criminalized slavery) was ratified on December 6, 1865, but that's not the date we celebrate.
June 19th, 1863 was the date the Emancipation Proclamation was enforced by a Union general in Texas. It started off as a Texas holiday and spread from there. Which makes perfect sense, and I don't mean to quibble with the dates–the more holidays, the better, and we certainly need one to commemorate the end of slavery*. I just want to talk about the asterisk.
Back to the 13th amendment. It's worth reading in full if you're a US citizen and have never done so. And it's so short that, hey, I'll reproduce it here, in its entirety, emphasis mine:
Section 1. 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.
Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation
The legislation that bans slavery, which consists of only 47 words, contains the word "except." And it's not exactly an edge case, either–the US has one of the world's highest incarceration rates. And those technically-legal-to-enslave prisoners do in fact perform labor. So I guess we'd call that ... slavery? Or at least slavery.
If you're descended from former slaves, this is a great day to celebrate in whatever fashion you prefer. But if not, it's a good day to reflect on where your food, lingerie, and other products come from. And whatever you do on this day, stay away from McDonald's.