Kanye West Doesn't Want to Bring Back Slavery. He's Trying to Abolish It for Good. The 13th Amendment outlaws slavery, but not for prison inmates.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Kanye West, the Trump- and Kaepernick-loving rapper, seems to take pleasure in bridging partisan divides in the most controversial ways possible. Yesterday he put on a red MAGA hat and Tweeted this:
Cue the outrage. This time around, West's critics include Captain America star Chris Evans , Arrested Development actor David Cross , and Matter of Fact anchor Soledad O'Brien . The general sentiment seems to be: Why abolish the amendment that abolished slavery? "Is there making sense of Kanye West's Maddening Slavery Tweet?" blares Esquire 's headline. Others, such as singer Lana Del Rey , just couldn't get past the rapper's support for Trump.
But it shouldn't have been hard to discern West's meaning, even if he expressed it in a confusing way. As he later clarified , he doesn't want to kill the whole 13th Amendment—just the passage that still allows involuntary servitude "as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted."
Without that change, he writes , the amendment allows "slavery in disguise."
In the years after the Civil War, many black convicts were forced to participate in " convict leasing " programs, where their unpaid labor benefitted private companies. Such programs no longer exist, but as Reason 's C.J. Ciaramella noted in August, many states still force inmates of all races to work for nothing or close to it. The Marshall Project reports that "the average pay for a prisoner working a job in a state prison facility is 20 cents an hour." In Texas, Georgia, and Arkansas, inmates aren't paid at all for their labor.
When inmates in more than a dozen states went on strike in August, their demands included "an immediate end to prison slavery." Contrary to popular opinion, "the 13th Amendment didn't abolish slavery," Amani Sawari, a spokesperson for the strikes, told Vox at the time. "It wrote slavery into the Constitution."
Kanye West isn't the first rapper to address this. Killer Mike covered the issue in his 2012 song "Reagan":
'Cause free labor is the cornerstone of U.S. economics
'Cause slavery was abolished, unless you are in prison
You think I am bullshitting, then read the 13th Amendment
Involuntary servitude and slavery it prohibits
That's why they giving drug offenders time in double digits.
And in 2016, the Oscar-nominated documentary 13th explored how inmates are punished with forced labor. That said, 1 3th director Ava DuVernay doesn't seem to be a big fan of West's views on the subject.
It's possible West's red hat served as a red cape that distracted people from what he was saying. The timing also didn't help, as the post came the day after West defended Trump on the Saturday Night Live stage.
If nothing else, West does us a service by reminding us that a person's views do not have to be—and, outside the professional political world, often aren't—a perfect fit with any political party's. It may seem odd on the cable news channels to support Donald Trump and criminal justice reform at the same time, but the world is larger than the cable news channels.
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It is not surprising that someone from a libertarian blog would like to see Kanye West And Trump join forces.
Does Kanye cheat on his taxes too? Was that the attraction?
A prison stay isn’t free. If a murderer is getting free meals a roof over his head and healthcare in prison and he doesn’t have the money in his bank account he should be forced to pay it off with labor. Let’s not stick the taxpayer with his bill. Bring back the chain gangs.
I have no problems with inmates cleaning the prison, working on farms, even doing highway clean-up, but what I think Mr West is referring to here are inmates forced to do "industrial" work and not getting paid for it. These for-profit prisons have industries such as cabinet making* for example. The inmates do the work but are not getting paid for it. The taxpayers are still stuck with the upkeep of the prison even tho the prison CEO is raking in the profits of the industries the prison forces the inmates to work in.
My work desk was made at a prison. Fine craftsmanship, too
Sweatshops...much better word.
A small town here in Arkansas has decided they aren't going to prosecute people in possession of less than 15 grams (?) of marijuana. Just a ticket. That's all. But they'll still take your pot
These for-profit prisons are against making cannabis legal because then they will lose their work force. I think them and Big Pharma are in cahoots. Somebody should do some investigating
Since all of my congress critters are republicans I'm voting straight democratic ticket on November 6
Hi Badfish!
I have mixed views on this topic:
Well, until you come up with a better alternative, then that's that. LOL
Amateur athletes also have day jobs. Prison inmates have day jobs, night jobs, weekend jobs, etc
or, one can ask, what is rehabilitation?
or are the incarcerated expected to sit in their cells and do nothing for years at a time.
If we gave them minimum wage while they learned to build fine furniture, or weld or farm,
would that satisfy the 'complaint'?
exactly
How much money is the prison making off of the sweat shop goodies that inmates produce?
The solution is to locate and elect a better crop of politicians. The question:
Yes. This is what is confusing! Moreover, this can be cleared up by a determination of what the 13th amendment meant by leaving prisoners in a "state of slavery." Original intent would go a long way here.
For example: Did the founders have a "private" prison system in mind, with all its 'concerns' and issues, for how such a system could perpetually maintain its 'workforce'?
Yes.
Moreover:
Complex questions. When we think about making changes we have to "take-in" all the moving parts! Looking forward beyond the horizon.
Interesting article here.
Thank you for the link. Let me focus on several items from the link:
Thanks SP!
Oh my, did you. . . go there ? Come here, BF!
People would rather be righteously angry than just ask the man (or think rationally about) what he meant.
I would hope it bothers people that so many people became willfully retarded and assumed Kanye wanted to bring back slavery.
I'll take a bite, even it it bites me back:
I am wondering outloud if Kanye would be so loose with his phrasing had he been writing about Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1 (1967) - the landmark civil rights decision of the United States Supreme Court, which allows interracial marriages. There is no excuse for not being clear!
And, the question is this: Does "Mrs. and Mrs. Social Media" understand this transmission stream they 'break' on a regular basis or not?!