In the state of Mississippi finally «officially» banned slavery. But slavery is still rampant in all states of America.
Made a huge step forward this week, Mississippi, officially banning slavery. This kind of legislation must be interpreted with great enthusiasm in the era of political lethargy, so — congratulations Mississippi long-awaited ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment. Of course, the staff slightly pootstal in this political decision, given that the country was officially abolished slavery as much as 148 years ago (more on this below here). But Mississippi is not the only state, which needed a substantial period of time to ripen to understand the idea that people should not possess, sell, beating and raping other people in the country, which is usually (and probably wrongly) is recognized as one of the most civilized The world.
State of Delaware, waited with the adoption of the 13th Amendment before the XX-th century, and Kentucky decided to wait another three quarters of a century, having ratified the amendment in 1976. After Kentucky, Mississippi was the only state to delaying ratification until it happened in 1995. But this progressive step in the history of the Mississippi to the beginning of this week was not the official decision because the state government «forgot» to tell anyone about it — for example, the U.S. archivist. After several missisiptsev watched «Lincoln,» they got into the internet and wrote their own staff, in fact, have not yet participated in this historic ratification. After that the events took place this week.
A lot of people have experienced great excitement when we learned that Mississippi has decided to join the rest of the country, the people declaring slavery illegal. But among these celebrations, we seem to have forgotten one thing: the modern-day slavery — is still a thriving industry, and in Mississippi and in other states.
In fact, Mississippi — is a bit of a regional center for the transportation of slaves. This is evidenced by Heather Wagner (Heather Wagner) Special Assistant to the Attorney General. He explains this by the fact that the location is in the vicinity of the ports on the Gulf Coast, the main highways and major city staff does a great corridor traffic of slaves. The state government has recently passed a resolution calling for a longer prison sentence for offenders caught for the enslavement of people and trade. For example, for those two men from Mississippi who recently accused of selling and buying of children, after there was a video showing the rape of three-year-old slave girl.
In fairness, it should be noted that human trafficking for the sex industry — a phenomenon that is characteristic not only for Mississippi. According to the Office of National Security (Department of Homeland Security), the industry — that’s DHS calls «modern slavery» — is booming in all states. The examples are not far to seek. 17 girls brought from Mexico to the United States, housed in captivity in the state of New York and forced to work as prostitutes. Baltimore firefighter owned a brothel with female slaves. 20 Togolese women and girls moved to the United States and forced to work in hair salons New Jersey. Nationwide, about 244,000 American children are at risk of be enslaved and forced to force the execution of sex services. This number does not include thousands of foreigners who were brought against their will in the United States and forced to work on the collection of tomatoes and strawberries for Walmart. Around the world, slavery is recognized as one of the most profitable businesses. people are enslaved, bringing revenue of $ 32 billion a year.
And all this — only for the «illegal slavery.» Permitted by the state of slavery — it is a thriving industry that has millions of people and make billions of dollars. One of the most punitive states across the country, Mississippi — a model prison of the people. As One article in the magazine «Time»: «Since the mid 1990s, Mississippi was one of the states with the most aggressive system of imprisonment — a well-deserved achievement for a nation of jailers.» A few years ago, the state had the second highest rate of prisoners — 22646 people. In the United States — about two and a half million people, mostly non-white races, which are held against their will in prison — in the system that describe as a cross between «modern slavery» and the New Jim Crow system.
Recently, the authorities of the Mississippi began to take steps to reduce the prison population and the weakening of the punitive criminal justice system — which, together with the adoption of the 13th Amendment, hailed as a «leap into modernity.» Chris Epps (Chris Epps) — Commissioner of the Department of Corrections staff magazine «Time»: «I am proud that we moved up the Mississippi to the XXI-st century.»
However, instead of chanting legislative breakthroughs in Mississippi, maybe we should pay more attention to the real modern slavery, and stop pretending that slavery exists only in the movies.
Source: , Laura Gottesdiener (journalist and activist from New York), February 20, 2013.