2022 and the 13th amendment exception = slavery

[zinfamous]

IIRC, this was part of bargaining during Reconstruction, which allowed many benefits to traitor southern states to essentially allow slavery to continue in absolute practice: land owners and politicians in the south wanted a new source of forced labor, under a new name of course, and they were gifted the ability to massively expand incarceration through the creation of all-new crimes, and what could now be done with this newly re-enslaved population of well, also black people!

being god-fearing southern hypocrites, it was of course the moral thing to do, forcing prisoners into hard labor like this, living in the exact same condition as they were as slaves. The practice of plantation owners buying and trading labor forces from "the prison system" was really no different than what they were doing before--it was just that they were essentially leasing slave labor from the state. The benefits of course, again only ever trapped with the land owners and the state. But you know, they were prisoners, not slaves! We fixed slavery!

Much of this practice continued well and quite in public through the early 20th century, but is now more or less hidden behind strawberry and watermelon farmers that would rather we not pay much attention to their kidnapped migrant labor forces.

 

[K1052]

Much of this practice continued well and quite in public through the early 20th century, but is now more or less hidden behind strawberry and watermelon farmers that would rather we not pay much attention to their kidnapped migrant labor forces.

Yeah, the H-2A visa system is rife with problems and abuse. The US should have a more flexible migrant worker program that puts the workers in more control about who they work for, where, and doing what. Employers who get caught breaking the rules should have to spend a year or two in federal prison not just pay some fines.

 

[mect]

If there's a problem with the justice system based on race, then that should be fixed. What you're proposing is, well really, nothing at all. Forced labor is a typical punishment when one is sent to prison. If we end forced labor then we should just end all prison, or at least let all the black people out.

If guilt is not being ascertained in a fair manner, then we should address it. Ending forced prison labor, assuming that is what you're proposing, is not really the way to do it because the people you say shouldn't be there are still confined.

What do you mean by "nothing at all"? Are you denying that America has an issue with incarcerating individuals (particularly people of color) for petty reasons and then using that to collect a large population for forced labor? Or are you saying that such a practice is simply not a big deal? Or are you saying such a practice would be fine if we just didn't do it based on race?

Yes, I'm proposing ending forced labor. You are using the same argument conservatives use in support of maintaining capital punishment. We should fix the system instead of getting rid of capital punishment. Except the system never gets fixed. So in the meantime, lets minimize the harm we do to innocent people suffering from the broken system, and lets remove a mechanism people use for maintaining what is essentially state sponsored slavery. Once we've fixed the system, then we can talk about how we treat criminals. For now, we should restrict it to separating them from society. If they want to work, they should be allowed to. They should be free to learn skills. But we shouldn't be forcing them to perform any activity, especially activities with profits tied to them.

There is a reason the US has the highest prison population in the world, and there is a reason that prison population is disproportionately people of color.