Kanye West just made news with his hard-to-follow on the . Meanwhile, Colorado is focused on possibly changing a state version of this centuries-old law.
Colorado鈥檚 version mirrors the one in the U.S. Constitution, as do several other states, including . The amendment prohibits slavery and involuntary servitude except as a punishment for a convicted crime.
But a Colorado initiative this November would make it the first state to remove that exception. According to a video on the , 鈥淎mendment A changes it to say, 'There shall never be in this state either slavery or involuntary servitude. Period.鈥欌€�
, a constitutional law professor at University of Colorado Boulder, said it鈥檚 unclear whether this amendment would be symbolic or have real consequences. Opponents are worried that it could interfere with prison labor for things like . Either way, Collins said, the amendment鈥檚 passage could affect the rest of the country.
鈥淚 suppose that if Colorado passes this,鈥� he said, 鈥渢here will be similar efforts in other states.鈥�
This same amendment went before Colorado voters in and .
The state constitutions for Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana do not contain specific language about slavery.
This story was produced by the Mountain West 暗黑爆料 Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, Yellowstone Public Radio in Montana, KUER in Salt Lake City and KRCC and KUNC in Colorado.
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