Rant about modern day inhumanity
I wrote about this in 2012 and I’m appalled that so few people seem to take it seriously.
Presidents Trump and Obama talked about it.
It’s all around us…every shade of beige and brown has been in its clutches.
In 2016, it was estimated that 29 million people were affected.
29 MILLION!
The 1800 census showed that 5,308,483 people were living in the United States. Out of that 5 million, around 893,602 were slaves. And it is estimated that the world population was under a billion worldwide in 1800. There is more slavery now than in Thomas Jefferson’s time.
Here is one woman’s story: https://www.endslaverynow.org/blog/articles/flor-molina
Except: “I was forced to work 18 hours a day making dresses that were being sold for $200 department stores. When all the workers in the factory got to go home, I had to clean the factory. I was forced to sleep at the factory in a storage room, and I had to share a single mattress with another victim.”
The only things in this world that don’t seem to change are death, taxes and slavery.
We have to stop complaining about slavery that happened in the western world over a century ago and start doing something about the slavery that is happening NOW.
To paraphrase information I found at http://www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/MunIslam.html (in 2012) The early Abbasids had markets in each city. You could buy all sorts of things from China, the islands of the Indian Ocean, Africa, and Scandinavia. On the docket were black slaves from Africa and white slaves from Scandinavia. Hell—you can’t get much whiter than Scandinavian. I wonder what Scandinavian’s did for sun block that close to the equator? I suppose the women didn’t get out of bed much and the men—well—after you’re turned into a Eunuch, death by sunstroke was probably preferable anyhow.
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_slavery, “The Islamic World was also a main factor in Medieval European slavery.” White slaves were traded between the 8th and 16th-17th centuries, from the time the Vikings sold Christians to North Africa, to when Christians sold Scandinavians to North Africa and then during the time that Christians were fighting over who God loves best (otherwise known as the wars between Protestants and Catholics).
Look in the mirror for the latest slave owner: You.
Stop trying to convince yourself that you’re not.
Think in terms of clothing. You’re surfing the web. There’s an ad for a website that offers free shipping and 10% off your first order. You check it out and find pants and a shirt for only $9.99 each—with free shipping and 10% off. You can’t even buy the material to make it for that price. How can you say no? You just HAVE to use your credit card and pay the $19.98. You get the clothing. It’s okay and it works for what you want it to do, so what the hell do you care who makes it? Then you get an email saying that if you open a credit card with them, you can get all sorts of discounts and free shipping—and there’s a clearance area where you can save even more. Before you know it, your entire wardrobe (mostly varying shades of purple), your home décor, and your doggie accessories consist of clearance items that cost you $9.99 or less.
In a way, you are sponsoring a child (slave) when you buy stuff that’s unrealistically cheap. Children make less money and complain less—possibly because they’re easier to beat. They grow up without an education working 60 hours a week. In some places, the predominantly female slave/work force might be allowed to have children who can take their parents places when they’re worked to death.
If it’s made in the Philippines, Indonesia or Sri Lanka, it’s almost a guarantee that it’s made with slave labor. But the problem isn’t confined to Asia. Slave labor includes illegal aliens in the US still working in some large cities.
Slavery is so profitable that women are becoming active in human trafficking. Many slaves are taken across the border of the USA — women from this country shipped out to other countries as well as women being taken into the USA — with the help of other women who are profiting from the misery of others.
There is no shortage of human fodder for slavers. People trying to escape war-torn countries, men and women needing a job, children in the wrong place at the wrong time are all exploited.
There are organizations trying to help those who have been trapped into slavery. This is not an endorsement of any particular organization, it’s a stepping stone to look for organizations you might want to support.
https://www.endslaverynow.org/connect
Can I share this please? It’s a message that needs broadcasting far and wide!
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Absolutely. I have been shouting this out for years and appreciate a bit of amplification.
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You have said it. It needs to end now.
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Thanks.
Isn’t it strange easily it can be ignored?
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Not ignored but overlooked. Pretending it doesn’t exist.
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Yes.
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Very sad.
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Well said, Joelle. Slavery is one of those things that is seldom spoken about …and needs to be.
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Mom used to make all of our dresses — it was cheaper to buy material and sew it yourself before the 1970’s. By the 1980’s we were hearing about slave labor being used to make clothing overseas, and sweat shops in places like San Francisco & overseas. It’s too convenient to pay less, & too easy to ignore how the items we buy can be made so cheaply.
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I was born in a city that owed its prosperity to the cloth mills… an industry that died with the advent of cheaper imports. It is s double tragedy that modern slavery brought yet another layer of poverty and need in its wake.
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That is a great point. Thanks for the reminder. I remember in the 1970’s when the clothing manufacturers were complaining they were being put out of business.
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The face of the industry changed and left so many unemployed.
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Thanks for sharing.
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I salute you for using your blog to raise awareness of present-day slavery. Yes, it’s astounding that there is more slavery now than there was in what we think of as the bad old days, and as you point out it’s all around us. It’s perilously easy to be a participant in it, too. I try to buy clothes from consignment shops and second-hand, up-cycling sites like ThredUp, but I admit there are times when I fall into the trap of buying something because it looks like a bargain and I haven’t stopped to think carefully enough about why it’s so cheap and whose hands made it. I appreciate you reminding me that I don’t want to be part of the inhumanity.
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You summed up the entire post in a nutshell. Thanks for understanding.
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