• LovableSidekick@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Oh go away, they did not vote for “slavery”. They voted to allow making convicted felons work as part of their sentence. It’s slavery in the same sense that working to buy food and pay rent is “slavery”. Metaphorically yes, but calling it slavery devalues the experiences of all the people who were kidnapped from their homes, brought here in chains on ships, and sold in a market.

      • LovableSidekick@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Yes, let’s read the 13th Amendment together: “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.”

        Notice that two things are listed - slavery and involuntary servitude. I define convict labor as involuntary servitude. The 13th Amendment doesn’t back up either interpretation.

        • Flocklesscrow@lemm.ee
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          3 months ago

          Yeah guy, we are both referencing the same idea, but from distinctly different perspectives, it would seem. You seem to like the punishment clauses, whereas I would argue that an Amendment ratified in 1865 is very much due for an overhaul.