this post was submitted on 06 Feb 2026
1004 points (99.3% liked)

Work Reform

15382 readers
920 users here now

A place to discuss positive changes that can make work more equitable, and to vent about current practices. We are NOT against work; we just want the fruits of our labor to be recognized better.

Our Philosophies:

Our Goals

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] Mic_Check_One_Two@reddthat.com 30 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Here’s a reminder that the 13th amendment didn’t abolish slavery. It simply added the “they must be a criminal before you can enslave them” qualifier…

Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction

Emphasis mine. Why do you think the model for the modern police force started as slave catchers, and then pivoted hard towards “law enforcement” after the civil war? The US already had law enforcers. They were called sheriffs (county), troopers (state), and marshals (federal). The individual cities and towns didn’t have their own independent police forces until after the civil war… Instead, the county sheriff would deputize people to enforce laws in the individual cities on the sheriff’s behalf. And those brand new city-level police forces were manned by, you guessed it, former slave catchers. And they never really stopped catching slaves. They just changed what they called it.

The US thrives on slavery, even today, with private prisons as the modern slave owners.