Today I Learned

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.

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.

You may remember this by its legacy name: slavery!

Literally written into the constitution

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.

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.

yes the USA is a slave colony empire and it always has been

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.

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.

Same as it ever was

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Fruit_Company#Reputation

Good time to look into splitting and sharing your Costco membership. Possibly remove you and your partner, and go half with someone else.

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.

but come on! they work for money!

According to the article, some of the companies who sell products that are made with slave labor include: