St. Paul’s police chief made a New Year’s resolution Tuesday to bring awareness to a clause in the Minnesota Constitution that still references slavery when it comes to punishment for a crime. He says it should be removed.
And a state legislator quickly responded, saying he plans to draft a document to make the change with the goal of having it on the 2020 ballot, so Minnesotans can vote on it.
In a public post on Facebook Tuesday morning, Todd Axtell said he wanted “to make a resolution that’s actually achievable (unlike my previous resolutions related to exercise and weight loss—which have obviously failed …). For some time now, I’ve been troubled by a clause in the Minnesota State Constitution. It involves the word slavery, which doesn’t reflect our state values.”
Axtell referred to a section of the state’s constitution that reads: “There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the state otherwise than as punishment for a crime of which the party has been convicted.”
The issue came to the police chief’s attention as he read articles about Nebraska and Colorado amending their state constitutions to remove similar language that referred to punishment for crimes as “slavery.” He said in an interview that he researched Minnesota’s constitution and “noticed the word ‘slavery’ was still there.'”
“I thought it would be appropriate to make this a New Year’s resolution to use my voice as St. Paul’s police chief to bring awareness to this issue and to hopefully get it removed from our state constitution.” Axtell said. “The word ‘slavery,’ involuntary servitude, has no place around criminal convictions.”
Rep. John Lesch, DFL-St. Paul, responded to Axtell’s post.
“This is a powerful statement, chief, not to mention a common sense idea on how to convey the values of Minnesota,” wrote Lesch.
He wrote that he plans to give it a hearing in the House Judiciary Committee, which he chairs, and seek to have it pass through the Legislature and appear on the 2020 general election ballot.
“There, the people of Minnesota make the decision about slavery in our constitution,” Lesch continued. “It’s time to update our values document. 2020 is a good time for that.”
Lesch said he would ask Sen. Warren Limmer, R-Maple Grove, to also hold a hearing in the Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Finance and Policy Committee, which Limmer chairs.
“Slavery and involuntary servitude are obviously no longer relevant to our laws,” Limmer said Tuesday. “I’m surprised this hasn’t come up before.”