You may remember this by its legacy name: slavery!
this post was submitted on 23 Sep 2025
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"Slavery is now American Work Freedom Plus (tm)"
Bootstraps! Slavery gives you your first bootstraps! At very reasonable^tm^ interest rates!
Literally written into the constitution
Between "freeing" the slaves, only to aggressively rebrand them as criminals (eg, guilty of (verb) while black), and the wage slavery many of these companies are happy to engage in, everything has been pretty well cooked for a while.
If they brand you as a criminal and force you into a position of working as a slave, then your food, accommodations, and everything is provided for you. This is "classic" slavery where the slave owns nothing and the slaver provides everything, controlling what is, or isn't allowed, provided, acceptable, etc.
If they don't (or can't) brand you as a criminal, unless you're from a rich family, you end up as a wage slave, where you make just enough to scrape by, often sharing accommodations with others to afford the landlord's rent, never owning property of your own or building any level of wealth through property ownership.... You don't make enough to have a vehicle worth anything, nor anything else of any significant value. You're "free" to choose your slaver, and they let you pick which landlord you pay homage to... The main difference here is that you get to "pick" your oppressors, and now instead of the slaver providing everything for you (food, clothing, accommodation), you have to figure that out for yourself.
The difference is honestly quite small IMO. And when you look at it objectively, you find that a large majority of people are still in slavery in some form or another.
Look around you and realize that "middle class" is pretty much no longer a thing. You're either poor and a wage slave, very poor and/or criminal and a literal slave, or you have enough money to be "independently wealthy" being a landlord or one of the slavers.
They've built a system that can only sustain most people at a level of poverty that affords then no ability to escape from that poverty, while the owners and shareholders, landlords, and bosses of the world, sit on their asses and collect the fruits of our labor.
The US constitution expressly and explicitly allows slavery if it's punishment for a crime. Read the 13th amendment if you don't believe me.
https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2023/09/27/updated_race_data/
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_ethnicity_in_the_United_States
this is the data that racists (like Kirk) use to justify white supremacy. But the wrongful conviction rate is proven to be nearly the same.
https://eji.org/news/study-shows-race-is-substantial-factor-in-wrongful-convictions/
The report, Race and Wrongful Convictions in the United States 2022, reviewed the cases of 3,200 innocent defendants exonerated in the U.S. since 1989 and found that Black Americans are seven times more likely than white Americans to be falsely convicted of serious crimes. This is true across all major crime categories except for white collar crime, the report said.
We didn't end slavery, just made it palatable to the masses by labeling it "punishment for a crime". They just need people to feel superior to those being exploited. Claiming it's because whites were superior stopped being effective for the majority, so they made it so it seems they do more crime instead.
Additionally, there is more crime in predominantly black areas, but it's not because "black people are more violent" or whatever the hell, it's because racism has made it crazy difficult for black individuals that aren't born rich to progress. They were only sold houses or given apartments in certain areas, forced into poverty by lack of given opportunity, and while (I hope) that's less today, there has been a lasting effect on the general population. When you have to do crime to keep you and your family safe and fed, you do crime.
Any time somebody tries to tell me that racism isn’t really a thing anymore (yes, they do), I always ask:
“Black people have six times the incarceration rate of white people. That can mean one of two things: there’s systemic racism, OR they are committing more crimes because it’s in their nature as a race. So, which is it?”
They never want to answer. They have to keep the mask on. No matter how hard I press for an answer, they never give one and get pissed off. It’s very telling.
That can mean one of two things: there’s systemic racism, OR they are committing more crimes because it’s in their nature as a race. So, which is it?”
The racists will answer "it's the crimes".
Fucking Kirk died with this lie on his lips.
Racists never wish to discuss the nuance. When discussing culture, behavior, and intelligence of the black population, they never wish to discuss the myriad of variables that would cause any negative outcomes. It’s so complicated and does not come down to one race being superior. I will never understand racism.
When discussing culture
Also racists have a shit taste in music, can you imagine the 20th century US music scene without black musicians? What the hell would americana have to point to proudly if it weren't for the countless black artists that built entire new worlds here?
Like... do they think we get Elvis without black culture??? hahahahaha white people in the US would still be playing fiddles on top of hay bales if weren't for black people, not that there is anything wrong with that activity but like.... just look at how little country music ever changes vomits in mouth a little.
This is a good picture of "polite" racism in the North, too. We won't call them the N word, we'll just have them taken away.
Yeah, makes me wonder who's in the meat packing plants in WI; I'm sure the answer is more depressing than I thought.
There is a reason the US has 20% of the world's prison population but only 5% of the actual world population. It is one of the many injustices thrust upon our society by the ruling class for their benefit.
Once a nation built on slavery, always a nation built on slavery.
Built into the constitution, in fact. 13th amendment.
Once it's in an amendment, it can't be changed again. Them's the rules.
yes the USA is a slave colony empire and it always has been
Good time to look into splitting and sharing your Costco membership. Possibly remove you and your partner, and go half with someone else.
Slavery was never made fully illegal in the US. And if you vaguely define some crimes like “loitering” you can easily arrest people you disagree with.
According to the article, some of the companies who sell products that are made with slave labor include:
Guess I won't be eating food any more
I'm gonna need something a bit more specific than Costco, Sam's Club, Kroger, Walmart, and Target. Are you saying ALL products in those stores are from slave labor? Most? Some? A few obscure items?
I don't really have any other options for groceries where I live.
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Willie Ingram picked everything from cotton to okra during his 51 years in the state penitentiary, better known as Angola.
During his time in the fields, he was overseen by armed guards on horseback and recalled seeing men, working with little or no water, passing out in triple-digit heat. Some days, he said, workers would throw their tools in the air to protest, despite knowing the potential consequences.
“They’d come, maybe four in the truck, shields over their face, billy clubs, and they’d beat you right there in the field. They beat you, handcuff you and beat you again,” said Ingram, who received a life sentence after pleading guilty to a crime he said he didn’t commit. He was told he would serve 10 ½ years and avoid a possible death penalty, but it wasn’t until 2021 that a sympathetic judge finally released him. He was 73.
This is horrifying in all regards
It's basically slavery. I'm willing to bet that most of these people working were black too.
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He was told he would serve 10 ½ years and avoid a possible death penalty, but it wasn’t until 2021 that a sympathetic judge finally released him. He was 73.
note: he was released because he wasn't usable as a prison laborer anymore. he was released because the prison couldn't make money off him anymore. he was released so he has to look for his own shelter.
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Economics of Everyday Things : Prison Labor
Barnes is one of around 800,000 incarcerated people with jobs in America's prison system. They grow crops, repair roads, fight wildfires, and manufacture a surprising number of the products we encounter in daily life, from office furniture to reading glasses. It's estimated that more than $11 billion worth of goods and services every year can be traced back to workers who are mostly paid pennies per hour for their labor, or even nothing at all.
The question to me is how could we fix it. I believe prison should be about herabilitation, but overall I'd say most of the population does not. Someone gets a DUI, robs a store, commits fraud, gets in a fight, beats their spouse, stabs someone, murders someone... whatever it is. People say they should be imprisoned, many say they should never be let out especially on multiple offenses. Most of the prisoners take the jobs because it is used as a "privilege.". You have to have good behavior to be eligible, then you choose one if you want with benefits that slowly "work off" hours of their sentences. (If it's available). Certain jobs pay more time off their sentences than others, and some will try to get into those jobs. Yet we will have people who scream that they shouldn't be let out after 5 years because they "insert crime here".
IF leaving their imprisonment and performing tasks in the world around people with good behavior isn't a step to proving they are re-integratable into society, what is? I would say they need a hell of a lot more therapy, access to actual healthcare, psychologists, and resources that allow for easy integration back into society so they can find gainful employment, cut ties with their past and land on two feet to be able to move forward without extreme struggles that bring them back in.
Our country doesn't vote for that, because those same things aren't available for citizens on the street who didn't commit crimes yet. And they think they are better and don't deserve less opportunities than those who did something illegal.
So I guess what I'm saying is the first step to reforming our prisons is reforming our healthcare system... And wage inequality... And fuck... It's not going anywhere
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Yeah. 13th ammendment. Slavery never ended.
"Except as punishment for a crime"
“Made in USA” = prison labour.
No no no. They're just temporarily relieved of their bootstraps. Once out, they can again be free and rich. Now, you take a barbarian country like China, Iran, or (gasp) Russia, those countries are crazy. They're the bad guys.
We're the good guys.
See? Simple. Now let's go check what's on Netflix.
Yeah, pretty much. https://www.unicor.gov/ if you want to find everything made that isn't food as well. It's a huge part of the industry.
Fuck the prison system.
They're trying to build a prison, they're trying to build a prison, they're trying to build a prison - for you and me to live in
Slavery. The word you're looking for is slavery.
Slavery.
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