Slavery By Another Name: The Convict Lease System

After the Civil War, the 13[SUP]th[/SUP], 14[SUP]th[/SUP], and 15[SUP]th[/SUP] Constitutional amendments were passed which aided newly freed slaves in being equally treated under the law, or so the story goes. The fact of the matter is that slavery was- and still is- completely legal in the United States and not only that, but it took on a much different form. The institution of slavery changed as instead of having the direct enslavement of blacks with an entire apparatus that had to be created to keep slaves in their condition, elements of the state apparatus were used to enslave blacks, namely the legal and prison systems. Yet, the enslavement itself was changed as black convicts were no longer slaves to individual masters, but rather they were enslaved to the companies which they were leased out to. To create this system there not only had to be the involvement of the Southern judicial system and individual Northern and Southern elites, but also the involvement of the corporation and reinstitution of slavery within a corporate context.

 

[makmugens]

It's one of those things I believe but find hard to prove beyond a doubt. You're more likely to get an eye-roll, a yawn, or some wise-crack about a conspiracy to imprison minorities for profit.

It's one of a group of things I felt undermined some African-American neighborhoods. With all the history this nation has you would be amazed how people scoff the idea that racism not only exists, but exists in the government and various institutions.