"The United States of America in the 21st Century has been shaped by the white
supremacist institution of slavery and its many persistent vestiges and outgrowths. Vermont willingly joined the United States as the fourteenth state knowing it was joining a nation with slavery at the core of its governmental structure and economy."
"The Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution was originally adopted during the short-lived Reconstruction era following the Civil War—a horrific war caused by slavery. The well-documented history of the Amendment's passage makes clear that its purpose was to help repair the damage to Black people wrought by slavery. Its true meaning and just application in today's affirmative action context cannot be divorced from this original intent."
"...Yet, beginning in the late 1980s, a divided Court began interpreting the Equal Protection Clause in ahistorical ways... In so doing, the Court has allowed for the entrenchment of inequality and the perpetuation of harms from slavery and its successor white supremacist laws and institutions. Ironically, the Court's reactionary course has contributed to racial disparities that only heighten the continuing need for affirmative action, including in areas of land and housing access where deep disparities exist for members of historically marginalized and disadvantaged groups."
Excerpts from Attachment E to the Initial Report of the Land Access Opportunity Board : A Primer on Equal Protection and Civil Rights Law it Relates to the Work of the Vermont Land Access and Opportunity Board, Attorneys Robert Appel and Anthony Iarrapino
https://vhcb.org/sites/default/files/programs/LOAB/LAOB.Initial.Report.to_.General.Assembly.[...]=24
Systemic racism and other forms of systemic oppression create wealth disparities and indirectly affect health and wellness; threaten economic growth and development, and ultimately place democracy at risk.
While the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause has provided a legal framework for challenging disparate outcomes created by systemic racism, its effectiveness is limited by various factors, including judicial interpretation, enforcement challenges, intersectional issues, and the need for broader societal change.
A State constitutional amendment could lay the groundwork in creating a state legal approach to equal protection which assists Vermont in its ability to create survivable policies that correct disparate outcomes caused by systemic racism and other forms of oppression. It is possible that this constitutional amendment may assist Vermont in providing broader civil rights protections in the face of national threats. These protections could even be expanded to some who are currently unprotected and prevent harmful classification-based algorithms.
The vote on PR.4, the constitutional amendment that adds an equal protection article to the state constitution is coming right up. Find your state representative here: https://legislature.vermont.gov/people/all/2024/House
Note:
We'll meet at the Richard Kemp Center on May 9th at 6:00 PM to talk more about equal protection and the vote. This meeting will be hybrid meeting. Here is the link:
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEtdOuvqDoqHdNzPrGxDaCkkwimTkOl5gXG