Laws passed during the era of the New Deal prohibited the use of prison labor with the exception of state institutions. However, lobbying by corporations eventually allowed them to use prison labor by 1979, and by 1995 businesses won exemptions from minimum wage laws which permitted them to exploit prison labor for, according to Elizabeth S. Anderson, “mere pennies an hour.” She adds that “many are forced to work in unsafe conditions without protective equipment, because workplace health and safety laws do not apply to prison workers.”[39]

  • TheReturnOfPEB@reddthat.comEnglish
    2115·
    2 days ago

    I had to learn that China invaded Tibet because Tibetan Buddhism practiced generational slavery.

    I wonder what China thinks of the slavery in the USA ?

    • spujb@lemmy.cafeOPEnglish
      271·
      2 days ago

      My understanding is that this is contentious, and some scholars believe that the invasion was truly done to expand territory (not an uncommon theme in world history) and/or that the hierarchal system in Tibet, while inequitable, was hardly comparable to the Western model of slavery. So just be careful I guess?

    • PugJesus@lemmy.worldEnglish
      10·
      2 days ago

      “Imperialism is good if we say ‘human rights’ first” - The apologists for the British and French in Africa CCP

  • Telodzrum@lemmy.world
    450·
    2 days ago

    Except to work in service of the society one committed a criminal act against.

    Yeah . . . the horror.

    • spujb@lemmy.cafeOPEnglish
      361·
      2 days ago

      a Black man earning 8 cents an hour flipping burgers separated from his family for most of the rest of his life because he was caught with drugs once under Reagan’s racist policy reading this: oh hell yeah i find this to be totally fair

      get real.

    • chuckleslord@lemmy.world
      15·
      2 days ago

      Perverse Incentives. The US has the largest incarcerated population in the world almost directly because of this carve-out. Mandatory minimums, the three-strike law, overpolicing, etc. find some of their reason for existing because it allows for more legal slaves.

    • eskimofry@lemmy.world
      8·
      2 days ago

      When the state has every incentive to “find a criminal” then the meaning of “criminal act” becomes fungible.

  • mommykink@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1229·
    3 days ago

    Yall laughed at Kanye West but AFAIK he was the only candidate to focus on rewriting the 13th ammendment

      • spujb@lemmy.cafeOPEnglish
        431·
        2 days ago

        also… “focus”? iirc it was like 2-3 tweets so… idk if we can give him that much credit

    • spujb@lemmy.cafeOPEnglish
      221·
      2 days ago

      I didn’t laugh at Kanye till he came out as a Nazi. Even when he had his MAGA hat on he was supporting i.e. Colin Kaepernick and 13th Amendment changes and that was pretty cool despite the other loser behavior. Also: Bernie Sanders certainly has focused on the 13th amendment.

    • Eldritch@lemmy.worldEnglish
      16·
      3 days ago

      To be fair. They were laughing at him for all his other positions. Being right about one thing doesn’t negate being wrong about all the others. But it is something we definitely need to address.

    • FuglyDuck@lemmy.worldEnglish
      13·
      2 days ago

      Yes. Let’s vote for the neo nazis because of his one good idea. What could go wrong?

      (Remember, that time when he praised hitler? Praised a dude that thought he was subhuman because of his ancestry?)

      (Also, you do realize that changing the 13th requires another amendment, so that’s basically not going to happen.)