• balderdash
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    6 months ago

    This literally happened en masse after slavery was abolished in the South. They would just charge black people for minor offenses (e.g., “looking at a white woman”), jail them, and lease them to middle-class landowners who treated them worse than slaves. This country was built on slave labor and the legacy of slavery still continues to this day.

    • Dessalines
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      5 months ago

      Yep, slavery was largely re-instituted (in a less dominant form) during the reconstruction era.

      The US still has a significant portion of its economy based on slave-labor, including at least 54 state-run prison farms, and US-state-run companies like Federal Prison Industries which operates a multi-billion dollar industry with ~ 52 prison factories, where prisoners produce furniture, clothing, circuit boards, products for the military, computer aided design services, call center support for private companies. 1, 2, 3

      The US also has the highest incarceration rates in the world, with states like Louisiana basically being slave states. Most individual US states outrank all other countries.

      • @Maeve@sh.itjust.works
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        95 months ago

        That last link…“freest country in the world” just means “most indoctrinated country in the world, and also slavers.”

      • @ricecake@sh.itjust.works
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        35 months ago

        Not to diminish how messed up prison labor is, or how private prisons shouldn’t be a thing at all, to say that prison labor makes up a significant portion of the US economy is a pretty big stretch.

        FPI/UNICORE only has about a half billion in gross revenue, and the entire private prison sector is around ~$8 billion.
        The US economy is in the $25 trillion range. Arby’s is about half the size of the private prison industry, and eight times larger than FPI. ($4 billion)

        Neither should exist in the modern era, and getting rid of them would be an almost unnoticeable impact on the economy.

          • @ricecake@sh.itjust.works
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            35 months ago

            I suppose I should have said “none”.
            Even though Arby’s has personally hurt me more than private prisons, I still think that privatized cruelty that somehow manages to be worse than our already pretty shitty penal system is worse that the gastrointestinal nightmare that Arby’s has given me.

          • @ricecake@sh.itjust.works
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            05 months ago

            It’s not a great ruling, but it doesn’t serve to be hyperbolic. They said that fines or punishment for “camping” (existing while homeless) on a cities public lands aren’t de facto unconstitutional.

            Not forbidden to fine or evict the homeless isn’t the same as making homelessness illegal.

    • @MantisTobogganMD@lemmy.world
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      25 months ago

      and they teach us in school (ohio) that it’s totally great and makes sense that slavery is legal for prisoners. they make no mention of the record our. nation has for jailing people on bullshit charges.

  • @FarFarAway@startrek.website
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    296 months ago

    And there is the real reason they made it OK to make homelessness illegal.

    After they realized deporting illegal immigrants left fields to rot (see Florida, Georgia, and Alabama) they had to come up with a plan to make up the loss of labor, somehow.

    I’m sure they figure 2 birds, 1 stone. Clean up the streets and make sure they have enough slaves to tend the fields. If you can’t pull yourself up by your bootstraps, we’ll tie those straps to your feet and drag you with em.

  • @hperrin@lemmy.world
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    246 months ago

    I mean, yes. The constitution explicitly carves out one exception to the “no slavery” rule. People who proudly proclaim America was the “first country to abolish slavery” don’t even realize America didn’t abolish slavery. So even if they were right, they’d still be wrong.

    • @AlecSadler@sh.itjust.works
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      56 months ago

      I don’t understand, in that article it points out that Alabama allows this without pay, but then later in the article said Alabama is one of four that doesn’t allow this…?

      • @SLVRDRGN@lemmy.world
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        25 months ago

        Yes, it’s odd. I think this snippet from the second article about the four states might shed light:

        The approved measures will not immediately change the states’ prison systems, but they could lead to legal challenges about prisoners being forced to work or facing sanctions or loss of certain privileges if they don’t.

  • TurboWafflz
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    176 months ago

    Meanwhile the conservatives complain the IlLeGaLs are taking all their jobs.

  • @boatsnhos931@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    Either stay in your country or go through the proper channels. Or work as a field laborer for pennies on the dollar…sounds like there are a couple choices here, no one is forcing people to cross illegally. Edit I read no good, my b

    • @octopus_ink@lemmy.mlOP
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      346 months ago

      Either stay in your country or go through the proper channels. Or work as a field laborer for pennies on the dollar…sounds like there are a couple choices here, no one is forcing people to cross illegally.

      In your rush to dunk on folks who have made a difficult decision at a low point in their likely quite difficult lives, you failed to actually read what you replied to. But I’m guessing your response is now “they are criminals so they have no rights, and so who cares about their humanity.”

    • @motor_spirit@lemmy.world
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      236 months ago

      You realize that this can happen to your uncle Cletus and not just illegal immigrants, right? Lol I’m going to assume not, based on your answer. I’m sorry that your parents, yourself, and your school district failed to educate you - there’s still information out here though, just look around. Ask for help if you need to, there’s lots of adults around.

      • @boatsnhos931@lemmy.world
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        -126 months ago

        I’ve been to prison and to be honest… When you have a job in there that pays usually 60 to 70 cents an hour, it’s so much better than sitting on your ass and calling your friends/family asking for a handout…It sounds crazy, but after a while you literally crave a purpose/job.

        • JackGreenEarth
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          56 months ago

          A purpose != a job. Capitalism has tried to equate the two, but it is incorrect

          • @boatsnhos931@lemmy.world
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            -36 months ago

            I’m going to break it down into easier concepts. You get bored out of your god damn skull and you want to do anything to pass the time and get out of your cell.

        • @motor_spirit@lemmy.world
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          36 months ago

          I definitely understand that and I’ve seen that sentiment over and over in news/documentaries about such topics. People like to be busy, work, have meaning, purpose. Activate the mind, pass time. It does not mean that the people should be exploited even if it’s beneficial to them.

          I have spent just several days in jail and I know that time. fuckin. crawls.

            • @motor_spirit@lemmy.world
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              6 months ago

              I think that you need to bring a person understanding and reasoning first and foremost when it comes to crime and punishment. Rehabilitation and education come to mind. If the offender hasn’t mentally changed or grown, it may be unlikely that any benefit from the service time is realized, though it could still lead to it. Change can be prompted from different angles.

              People don’t need to be subject to “extended community service” simply because there may be a silver lining somewhere. There are many people locked up for crimes they didn’t commit, and many punishments do not fit the crime, so allowing a grand exploitation scheme is still fucked up and not some Disney magic where people learn lessons and find some quirky meaning.

    • @Visstix@lemmy.world
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      126 months ago

      The point is that because of the lack of illegal immigrants, they now need to use prisoners as slaves instead.

    • @M500@lemmy.ml
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      86 months ago

      What about children who were brought across the busted with their family illegally. They were forced.