Black History Month - Convict Leasing
When I learned about this today, and how relevant it was to today’s day and age - it made me sick.
Convict Leasing was actually a form of forced slave labor historically practiced in the Southern US, & specifically targeted African American men. Convict Leasing provided prisoner labor to private parties. Does this sound familiar yet?
This had been happening for many, many years prior to the emancipation of slavery in 1865. But it became particularly popular after many local State Governments in the south adopted laws and legislation that actively harmed local African American populations, and that would actively put generations behind bars.
Talking to a white woman, not being actively employed, loitering (aka standing) in front of a white owned business for too long; these were all just some of the absurd laws put in place.
The worst part? These prison slave-labor conditions were often worse than they would have been in a slave camp, or under an actual “slave trader”. The prisoners inside these camps would be beaten, tortured, and starved at the hands of their ‘wardens’.
This continues, whether you believe it or not, to this very day in our local State and Federal Prisons. They just got “smarter” and called it a different name.
This is why prison reform is fucking important. Nothing has changed.
We need to do better.
