171
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] Krydex@slrpnk.net 36 points 1 year ago

As a non-american, can someone post the content of these amendments?

[-] smollittlefrog 33 points 1 year ago

Summaries from Wikipedia:

13

Abolishes slavery, and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime

14

Defines citizenship, contains the Privileges or Immunities Clause, the Due Process Clause, and the Equal Protection Clause, and deals with post–Civil War issues

15

Prohibits the denial of the right to vote based on race, color or previous condition of servitude

[-] Seasoned_Greetings@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

To expand for a non-American who still may not understand the context:

The 13th amendment abolishes slavery in the US, where slavery at the time (prior to 1865) was based on the notion in the southern states that you could and should be owned as a slave if you were black. That included lifelong servitude of you and your children, any punishment deemed appropriate including severe physical punishments, and murder without consequence. Even if you were a free black man, and not shipped in from Africa like the majority of slaves, you could be captured by police and auctioned to someone to work on their plantation.

The 14th amendment establishes primarily that all persons in the US are equal regardless of the color of their skin. The bloodiest war in US history (Civil War, 1861-1865) was fought over the right for the southern states to declare it legal to own slaves, vs the northern states wanting slavery abolished federally. These amendments were ratified after the north won. Even after the war, it took another hundred years before Americans as a whole saw non-white people as equal. This and the next amendment were very much necessary to protect the newly found rights of former slaves.

The 15th, at least, is self explanatory.

The point of this meme is literally positing that it's ok to make black people slaves again if other parts of the constitution can change, because they're pretty boldly racist. There's not much else to it.

[-] 2d4_bears@lemmy.blahaj.zone 9 points 1 year ago

it took another hundred years before Americans as a whole saw non-white people as equal

We’ve probably got the majority at this point, but this view is definitely not universal among US citizens. I grew up in a place where lots of folks would casually disagree with this notion.

[-] pedro@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

I just read the 13th amendment for the first time and one thing is unclear. Is it slavery or involuntary servitude that is allowed as punishment (or both?).

Because forced labor as a punishment to repay society seems morally ok (to me) whereas slavery (and thus, ownership of people) still seems wrong even as a punishment

[-] Seasoned_Greetings@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Forced labor and slavery aren't really different in the context of the state owning people. That's why it's phrased like that in the constitution. Once you are found guilty of a crime in the US, you lose many of your rights and are considered a prisoner of the state or federal government.

It's actually a hot topic in the US anyway, because the government very often assigns its prisoners it privately owned, for-profit prisons, where those prisoners labor for pennies and have no choice. Here's an example for you.

Is it involuntary servitude or slavery when the state hands you off to a private prison to make them money?

Couple that with the fact that the US coincidentally has the highest incarceration rate in the world (not crime, just the act of putting people in prison) and the fact that private prisons very often sign contracts with the states for a minimum number of prisoners a year, and you can see that it might be argued that private prisons collaborate with the government as an institutional system to keep certain Americans in prisons.

And then there's the fact that poor and non-white people are disproportionately preyed on by police, maybe you could say that modern day slavery still exists.

Involuntary servitude might be morally ok, but there's still a line where it crosses into slavery and we've been on the slavery side for a long time now.

[-] Lauchmelder@feddit.de 20 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

After a quick Google search I think they are:

13th: No slavery except as punishment for crime

14th: Everyone born in the USA is granted citizenship (also for former slaves)

15th: Everyone has the right to vote

[-] RIP_Cheems@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago

Wait, then, slavery is still legal???

[-] chetradley@lemm.ee 18 points 1 year ago

Yes, and regularly practiced in US prisons.

[-] 7heo@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Indeed, according to this article (emphasis mine):

Incarcerated workers generate billions of dollars worth of goods and services annually but are paid pennies per hour without proper training or opportunity to build skills for careers after release, according to a comprehensive nationwide report released by the University of Chicago Law School’s Global Human Rights Clinic and the American Civil Liberties Union.

The first-of-its-kind report, Captive Labor: Exploitation of Incarcerated Workers, examines the use of prison labor throughout the U.S. and highlights how incarcerated workers’s labor helps maintain prisons and provides vital public services.

[...]

Key findings include:

  • Nearly two-thirds (65% percent) of incarcerated people report working behind bars—amounting to roughly 800,000 workers incarcerated in prisons.
  • More than three quarters of incarcerated people surveyed (76%) report facing punishment—such as solitary confinement, denial of sentence reductions, or loss of family visitation—if they decline to work.
  • Prison laborers are at the mercy of their employers. They have no control over their work assignments, are excluded from minimum wage and overtime protections, are unable to unionize, do not receive adequate training and equipment, and are denied workplace safety guarantees despite often dangerous working conditions.
  • As a result, 64% of incarcerated workers surveyed report worrying about their safety while working; 70% percent say they received no formal job training; and 70% percent report not being able to afford basic necessities like soap and phone calls with prison labor wages.
  • Incarcerated workers produce at least $2 billion in goods and $9 billion worth of prison maintenance services annually, but this number is not closely tracked and is likely much higher.
  • Yet, most states pay incarcerated workers pennies per hour for their work. Seven states (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas) pay nothing for the vast majority of prison work. Other states pay on average between 15 and 52 cents per hour for non-industry jobs. Prison laborers often see up to 80% of their paycheck withheld for taxes, “room and board” expenses, and court costs.
  • More than 80% percent of prison laborers do general prison maintenance, which subsidizes the cost of our bloated prison system. Other tasks represent less than 10% percent of work assignments, including: public works projects (like road repair, natural disaster assistance, forestry work, and maintenance of parks, schools, and government offices); state prison industries, agricultural work, and coveted private company work assignments.

It is also worth noting that:

"Prison in-sourcing" has grown in popularity as an alternative to outsourcing work to countries with lower labor costs. A wide variety of companies such as Whole Foods, McDonald's, Target, IBM, Texas Instruments, Boeing, Nordstrom, Intel, Wal-Mart, Victoria's Secret, Aramark, AT&T, BP, Starbucks, Microsoft, Nike, Honda, Macy's and Sprint and many more actively participated in prison in-sourcing throughout the 1990s and 2000s.

And that black people are five (5) times as likely to end up in jail.

John Olivier and his staff did a great piece on it.

[-] RIP_Cheems@lemmy.world -5 points 1 year ago

But isn't slavery the use of people to preform labor? I don't think they do that anymore.

[-] WaxedWookie@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

Ten seconds with your search engine of choice would correct what you think.

[-] doggle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 year ago

Forced/coerced un/underpaid labor of prisoners is disgustingly common, depending on the state.

[-] 7heo@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)
[-] Lauchmelder@feddit.de 7 points 1 year ago

always has been

[-] PP_BOY_@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

From Constitution US

The 13th Amendment is about the abolition of slavery. The promise that slavery, or “involuntary servitude,” would exist no longer within the United States. The exception here is on the conviction of a crime. This amendment was ratified on December 6, 1865.

The 14th Amendment is the assertion that all those born or naturalized within the United States are citizens of the United States. Furthermore, the promise that no state will enforce any law that will damage these privileges in any way. This is also known as the Equal Protection Clause and was ratified on July 9, 1868.

The 15th Amendment stipulates that any citizen of the United States has the right to vote, regardless of their race and color of their skin. This constitutional amendment also mentions those with a “previous condition of servitude,” which grants the right to former slaves. It was ratified on February 3, 1870.

Essentially, these three amendments were passed after the South got their shit kicked in in the Civil War and guarantee that the US government can not be discriminate against someone based on race

this post was submitted on 17 Sep 2023
171 points (90.5% liked)

The Right Can't Meme

883 readers
683 users here now

About

This community is about making fun of dumb right wing memes. Here you will find some of the cringiest memes that the right has ever posted on the internet.

Rules

  1. All posts must be memes containing right wing cringe

  2. No unrelated content

  3. No bigotry

  4. Spammers and Trolls will be instantly banned. No Exceptions.

Other Communities

!desantisthreatensusa@lemmy.world

!leftism@lemmy.world

!antitrumpalliance@lemmy.world

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS