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Is it slavery if people are working for almost free in prison because of some absurd crime and a bullshit justice system? Yes. Therefore slavery still exists.
by illumen 11y ago
Is it slavery if people are working for almost free in prison because of some absurd crime and a bullshit justice system? Yes.
Therefore slavery still exists. It just got sneaky.
Well sort of sneaky - the English were calling their white slaves convicts. When people did crimes like steal bread, they could be sent all the way across the oceans on six month voyages to work. Yeah, they could eventually be free... but even if they managed that; then getting back was near impossible for most.
- Taniwha 11y agothe point I was trying to make was that there are actually things worse than apartheid
- Crito 11y agoIn fact the 13th Amendment explicitly calls out being convicted of a crime as an exception to the "no slavery" thing. The full text of the amendment: > 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. By word count, 30% of the amendment allows slavery under specific circumstances, but somehow that seems to get left out of the curriculum of most american civics classes (that I've seen / gone through anyway).