We know slavery is an historical wrong. We know human rights abuse is an historical wrong. We know women's lack of autonomy is an historical wrong. We know that homosexuality, and gender rights, have been too long coming to civilization. Nowadays, many more of us are politically aware of the injustices minorities have faced throughout the ages. As we become more aware, the politics of freedom changes, and those who were once slaves, or dehumanized, or disenfranchised, know what is to be seen as equal in society. But is it any different for animals? We enslaved people of color because we could. Elements within human society have controlled and manipulated and subjugated other elements within society because they could. And they got away with it because they could. But is it any different how we treat animals? We kill and eat, wear, and enslave animals by the millions every day. We wear their skin, and we eat their flesh and organs. We eat their eggs, and drink the milk intend...
We generally accept that slavery ended after the civil war, and African Americans were never again placed into a position where they'd be working for nothing. This text, however, refutes that. In actuality, many in The United States believe that the penal system is in place not to "correct" offenders' errant behaviors, but to provide cheap or free labor. It's assumed that prisoners are given light jobs such as producing license plates and mailbags, but the truth is very different. The Innocence Project takes a look at what goes on in Angola prison, Louisiana, where more than 5000 people still perform the work that slaves did more than two hundred years ago, and are paid a few cents an hour for it. Is the penal system merely providing another section of society, disenfranchised from the rest, that we shun and throw out as unworthy, valueless citizens? Does that label, "convict" turn them into factory fodder, and ripe for exploitation? Or is our hatred o...
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