Slavery Is Legal In America (By: Carlton Worthen, M.Div.)
The Church for too long has been silent on slavery that continues to exist to this very day right here in The United States of America. Who would have ever thought that in the year of 2010 that slavery still exists? What is even more alarming is the people who actually benefit from this slavery are some of the very companies that many people patronize on a regular basis. Slavery in 2010 is perpetrated through what is called The Prison Industrial Complex (PIC).
Slavery is made legal through the 13th amendment in the U.S. Constitution. Now I must admit, the way this amendment is taught during Black history month in grade school is that the 13th amendment abolished slavery. This is true. The 13th amendment did abolish slavery; however the 13th amendment has a very special loop hole in it (I submit specifically tailored for poor people and especially for Blacks). Read what the 13th amendment section 1 says: 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.
Roughly one in 10 black men will be in prison - a statistic with major social implications because prisoners don't have jobs, pay taxes or care for their children at home. And because many states bar felons from voting, at least one in seven black men will have lost the right to vote.
Why blacks contribute about half of all prison inmates when they are only 13 percent of the U.S. population is subject to much speculation. Some specialists blame poverty or lack of opportunity. Over the past five decades, the disparity between races has widened dramatically as minorities have replaced whites in the prison population, according to the center.
In 1950, whites made up about 65 percent of all state and federal inmates, white minorities made up 35 percent. Today, the opposite is true, with 35 percent of the prison population made up of whites.
"The face of crime to white Americans is now that of a black man," said David Bostis, senior political analyst at the Center for Political and Economic Studies, a think tank that specializes in black community issues.
According to an October 1998 report by The Sentencing Project, a Washington-based legal research and services organization, in a dozen states, 30 percent to 40 percent of the next generation of black men will permanently lose the right to vote if current trends continue. In nine states, one in four black men can never vote again because they were convicted of a felony. This is most definitely disenfranchisement.
Criminologists such as William Chambliss, professor of sociology at George Washington University and past president of the American Society of Criminologists, point to law enforcement.
Police, he says, admit that they focus their resources on black communities, particularly when enforcing drug laws and despite studies that show whites consume more drugs than blacks. "It is much easier to go into black community and pop someone selling drugs on the street corner than to go into a suburb where drug use happens behind closed doors," Levensen said.
Blacks are also more frequently viewed as suspects, pulled over and targeted by raids, Chambliss said.
A survey of traffic stops in Volusia County, Fla., for instance, showed nearly 70 percent of those stopped were blacks or Hispanic, according to Georgetown University Law Professor David Cold, author of "No Equal Justice."
WOW!!!! So why am I blogging about this? There are many people who may feel that if a criminal commits a crime against society they should be required to pay their debt back to society. If a criminal has committed a violent crime against an individual and or against their property the criminal should be required to make restitution. Guess what, I agree. However, let’s examine the inherent flaw with the 13th amendment and explore its limitations.
Would you be surprised that in the State of Florida Pride Industries forces inmates to construct furniture, grow foods, dentures, orthodontics, restorations, veneers, pants, sheets, socks, sweatshirts,… cosmetic products that are all sold on the open market at astronomical prices. This is PIC.
Would you be surprised that when an inmate makes a collect call to their loved ones often times phone companies such as A T&T, and Sprint charge 23 times a higher rate for the collect call than they would for anyone else. This is PIC.
Would you be surprised that Victoria’s Secret has a secret that they do not want you to know? Inmates conduct data entry for Victoria’s Secret behind prison walls. This is PIC.
The challenge with the above examples is that major corporations (who already ship jobs across seas for lower labor rates while maximizing profit margins through the exploitation of children) should be required to pay fair market wages and salaries but instead they are utilizing the PIC all in the name of PROFIT. This is wrong. This is wrong morally. This is wrong ethically. This is wrong spiritually.
[1][1] By: Louise D. Palmer, The Boston Globe. This article includes information from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer Staff. This article appeared in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer Tuesday, March 2, 1999. Pages A-1 & A-4.
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