Slavery or involuntary servitude can be re-imposed as a punishment

[sheshe2]

The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. It was passed by the Senate on April 8, 1864, by the House on January 31, 1865, and adopted on December 6, 1865. On December 18, 1865, Secretary of State William H. Seward proclaimed its adoption. It was the first of the three Reconstruction Amendments adopted following the American Civil War.


Slavery had been tacitly protected in the original Constitution through clauses such as the Three-Fifths Compromise, by which three-fifths of the slave population was counted for representation in the United States House of Representatives. Though many slaves had been declared free by Lincoln's 1863 Emancipation Proclamation, their post-war status was uncertain. On April 8, 1864, the Senate passed an amendment to abolish slavery. After one unsuccessful vote and extensive legislative maneuvering by the Lincoln administration, the House followed suit on January 31, 1865. The measure was swiftly ratified by nearly all Union states, and by a sufficient number of border and "reconstructed" Southern states to cause it to be adopted before the end of the year.


Though the amendment formally abolished slavery throughout the United States, factors such as Black Codes, white supremacist violence, and selective enforcement of statutes continued to subject some black Americans to involuntary labor, particularly in the South. In contrast to the other Reconstruction Amendments, the Thirteenth Amendment was rarely cited in later case law, but has been used to strike down peonage and some race-based discrimination as "badges and incidents of slavery". While the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments apply only to state actors, the Thirteenth applies also to private citizens. The amendment also enables Congress to pass laws against sex trafficking and other modern forms of slavery.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution

[William769]

1. It all stems from mandatory minimums & sentencing guidelines

And of course deep rooted racism whether admitted or not of juries.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

8. Close. It all comes from "Vote for me - I'm tough on crime,....

....and my opponent is a Democrat Liberal who is soft on crime and will get you killed."

The ad for that includes a scary black man following a white woman in a parking structure at night.

Never mind that crime is at an all time low.

[malaise]

2. Hence crack is different from regular cocaine

and let's set up that private prison thingy - so profitable.

[noiretextatique]

9. indeed

Hence ALL the dismal statistics about black people and the justus system. Punishment for living while black.

[malaise]

12. Precisely but note the meme

We put our boys in prison.

[TBF]

3. Typical republican BS -

which is only enhanced by living in a capitalist society where money is above all else.

Remember Babs Bush and her comments about the Katrina refugees years ago ... "What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas," Barbara Bush said in an interview on Monday with the radio program "Marketplace." "Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality." "And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway," she said, "so this is working very well for them." (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/07/national/nationalspecial/07barbara.html?_r=0)

And oddly enough they are not even the least bit embarrassed to say these things in public. It's something else.

[sheshe2]

4. I think I blew a gasket or two when she said that. TBF!

Such a stupid clueless woman.

[TBF]

11. She's descended from a couple of presidents

and sits up on her throne passing judgment.

You know that is the one positive of globalization - that folks like her are not going to be in charge anymore.

A related tangent - the sadder part for me is watching as normal everyday people grapple with losing their jobs as we outsources. It's rough contemplating that while people are losing standard of living here, in other countries they may be gaining a better standard of living. I think about that a lot and I actually suspect POTUS does as well. I've come to the conclusion, as I usually do, that we need to do a better job of easing this transition rather than letting the wealthiest simply hoard all the money. The economic effects are of course another thread -

I can tie it together though. We watch the economic shifts and we watch the other paradigms - things like people responding to the "other".

Hopefully as the world is more connected with technology we will not only ease the transition of modernizing, but also figure out the environmental pieces. And, finally, I hope we all learn to accept each other despite the different ways we look and cultures we have. The people like Bush and Bundy - who just do not get it - are just going to be left behind as we all move forward.

[Cha]

5. Cliven Bundy doesn't know it but he did this country a favor by being such an idiot..

Slavery and how horrible it was is now in our national dialogue.

And, putting Racism in its place..

Thank you, she~

[sheshe2]

6. I have watched that video.

The message is powerful! Put Racism in it's place!

Together Cha! We need to enlighten people and stop the hate. Cliven and his supporters may run but they can not hide!

They own it.

[TreasonousBastard]

7. Excellent!

[Scuba]

10. And US Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wi) uses these slave prisoners to fatten his wallet.

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/104605089.html

Companies operated by Ron Johnson, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, employed up to nine work-release inmates whose health care was paid for by state taxpayers.

The development is significant because Johnson has campaigned on a limited government theme, arguing that the private sector, and not government, is the best method for creating jobs.

The two companies are Pacur and Dynamic Drinkware, both of which operate in Oshkosh, and have been employing such prison labor since at least 1998, state records show. The workers are still under the custody of the state Department of Corrections and are paid by the two companies, but their health insurance and health care is taken care of by state taxpayers.