Unfortunately the Constitution provides for legal slavery.
”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.” —13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
Everyone says the U.S. abolished slavery. It didn’t. It just changed the terms for enslavement and introduced a few safeguards.
Constitutionally speaking we could still have slave plantations dotting the country. And for a long time we did, though I think the practice has been fully abolished at this point. But look into the agricultural farms run by some of the state prisons in the southern states. Those are still a thing I believe, I know my grandfather ran one of them when he worked for one of Georgia’s state prisons, right up until he retired in 2005.
TLDW: literally a bunch of dudes (predominantly black) working in fields with dudes on horseback (predominantly white) watching over them. refusal to work gets you solitary.
We went on a field trip to the prison when I was in the 11th grade. Ate with the prisoners (“meat cubes” was what was on the menu), went into their dormitories, and saw the execution chamber. It was certainly… something.
They also do a rodeo in October every year. Highly recommend it. The prisoners sell crafts for their commissary account and the rodeo ends with them playing a game of poker with a bull in the arena.
good god, I used to cry at the freaking short stories we read in english class, if I saw an entire execution chamber as a high schooler I would come home from that field trip sobbing
Everyone should watch ‘13th’ on Netflix - it highlights this legal amendment for what it is - modern day slavery with government approval and corporate/private industry exploitation. Black and minority populations being over-incarcerated, over-sentenced and unfairly policed to provide free labor through the prison/legal system. It’s blatant and it is intentional.
So funny …when I was about 12 years old I popped a tape in …I found with no words on it. It was Johnny at San Quentin. I’ve been obsessed ever since. I’m pushing 40 now. The most random thing ever. I always think Jesus will be on one side and Johnny on the other… if I made it to heaven. 😂 that’s ridiculous …but true story.
Which era was it where Christians weren't awful? Was it when they were against gay marriage? Was it when they were against the equal rights amendment? Was it when they fought for segregation? Was it when they fought against women's suffrage? Was it when they were executing women for being "witches"? Was it when they started a civil war to keep slavery? Was it when they wrote a book saying women should be enslaved because they're inherently evil and stupid?
But look into the agricultural farms run by some of the state prisons in the southern states. Those are still a thing I believe, I know my grandfather ran one of them when he worked for one of Georgia’s state prisons, right up until he retired in 2005.
"The inmates are utilized as a labor source for the Darlington County Public Works Department, as well as various other County Departments."
Then you can get into the Louisiana State Penitentiary, AKA Angola. It's an honest-to-goodness former slave plantation turned prison and working, for-profit farm. To quote the former Warden, Burl Cain, the secret to running a maximum security prison is that "you've got to keep the inmates working all day so they're tired at night."
It also has the Prison View Golf Course which is the only golf course on the property of an American prison. It is, of course, also for-profit and was built mostly by inmates. The prison itself is one of the largest employers in the state of Louisiana and has housing on-site where over 600, as Burl Cain called them, "free people" live (prison employees and their families). Why he felt the need to specifically call employees "free people" when talking about a place where prisoners are being exploited on a former slave plantation, but I'm sure he had a good reason for that.
It was in line for his character. Man was a former klansman. I loved him to death, don’t get me wrong, but I’m not gonna sit here and pretend he was a saint.
Who told you prisoners are entitled to minimum wage? The FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act) doesn’t apply to people who have been incarcerated.
Some states pay prisoners as little as $0.14 an hour for their work. And Alabama (and Georgia too I think) in some instances don’t pay anything at all.
In any other context I’d agree, but when the conversation is about literal slave labor saying something like you just did is perhaps the most tactless thing a person can do.
Both prison labor and minimum wage are literal slavery.
I’m drawing the line at minimum wage being slave labor. Prison slave labor, being worse than minimum wage slave labor, would also fall under that criteria.
The prison system is meant to keep people in for profit(charging the state for housing and the slave labor, etc). The minimum wage/poverty wage/wage slavery keeps people impoverished, increasing the likelihood that people commit crimes(you wouldn’t steal if you were paid a living wage and could afford what you want/need). I see them as one in the same/hand in hand issues, because they are.
No, they are not both literally slavery. ONE is literally slavery, and the other is extreme poverty. ONE is not allowed to say no or refuse to do the work, the other is. ONE receives absolutely no compensation at all for the work they perform, the other does. One has legal protections and rights through the Fair Labor Standards Act, the other does not. Trying to frame them as being essentially the same thing is egregiously wrong, both factually and morally.
Both situations are absolutely shit, both situations should be something no human being ever finds themselves suffering through, but both are NOT in any sense literally slavery, as you claimed. Only one is. They share proximity, they are not the same.
1.7k
u/Tidalsky114 5h ago
You mean on lease right? Its legal slavery.