In 2023, the California Legislature enacted Assembly Bill 3089, which would act as California’s official apology for chattel slavery.
AB 3089 provided that the State of California recognizes and accepts responsibility for all the harms and atrocities committed by the state and entities under its jurisdiction that facilitated and enforced the institution of chattel slavery.
The citizens of California voted no on Prop 6 in 2024, which would have removed forced prison labor from the language of the state’s constitution.
San Quentin resident Michael “Mikael” Walker said California voters’ “yes” vote to slavery amplifies the degree of incompetence of the elected officials voters send to the state capitol.
“California officially apologized for slavery, then the people of California voted ‘no’ to end involuntary servitude,” said Walker. “If there was any way to define hypocrisy, we find no better example.”
Oregon, Tennessee, Vermont, Nevada, and Alabama have passed measures comparable to Prop 6, leaving 15 states yet to remove such language, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
“California is officially behind the state of Alabama on slavery,” said Isaac Bryan (D-Los Angeles), and vice chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus. “We should be ashamed and embarrassed.”
According to the Public Policy Institute of California, Black and Latino persons represent vulnerable populations that will be adversely impacted by the voter’s choice to keep slavery alive. Latinos represent 46% of California’s incarcerated population and Blacks are 28%, despite Blacks representing six percent of California’s overall population.
San Quentin resident Lamavis Commundoiwilla said that he felt the measure failed because it did not have a spokesperson or someone to explain the purpose of Prop 6 to the voters.
“It is ridiculous in 2024 that we need a modern-day Harriet Tubman or Frederick Douglass because the word slavery should be removed from the modern-day tongue,” said Commundoiwilla.
He added that had voters truly understood the conditions and the plight of the imprisoned, the results would have been different.
“Any time light is shined on darkness, darkness finds itself in fear,” said Commundoiwilla.
According to the Marin Independent Journal, Prop 6 failed without any organized opposition, but in the wake of the defeat, proponents would “redouble their efforts to end forced prison labor.”
SQ resident Jessie Milo said that he was disheartened that voters did not understand Prop 6. He said that Prop 6 would not have raised residents’ pay, but instead would have improved work conditions. He said it would have made work conditions more humane by allowing prisoners to decline to work in unsafe work conditions without fear of reprisal.
“Work dynamics breed attitudes here that residents take home with them,” said Milo. “Do we want residents to think that work is a bad place and resent it, or do we want work to be a positive experience?”
Two weeks prior to the 2024 election, Mount Tamalpais College conducted a mock election at San Quentin. All the measures that concerned the population were on the mock ballots issued to the population, including Prop 6, which passed with 77% of the vote.
“Even 23% of prisoners at SQ voted to keep slavery,” said Milo. “So with that, must defer to Harriet Tubman by saying, ‘I could have freed a lot more, but they didn’t know they were slaves.’”
