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1/x) I'd like to share something that might help you understand the meaning of the phrase "systemic racism" and recognize how it is still pervasive in the current prison system and how society needs to recognize this as a problem & change from the bottom to the top to correct it.
2/x) In 1866, one year after the 13 Amendment was ratified (the amendment that ended slavery), Alabama, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Florida, Tennessee, and South Carolina began to lease out convicts for labor (peonage).
3/x) This made the business of arresting Blacks very lucrative, which is why hundreds of White men were hired by these states as police officers. Their primary responsibility was to search out and arrest Blacks who were in violation of Black Codes.
4/x) These men, women & children would be leased to plantations where they would harvest cotton, tobacco, sugar cane, or to work at coal mines, or railroad companies. The owners of these businesses would pay the state for every prisoner who worked for them; prison labor.
5/x) It is believed that after the passing of the 13th Amendment, more than 800,000 Blacks were part of the system of peonage, or re-enslavement through the prison system. Peonage didn’t end until after World War II began, around 1940.
This is how it happened.
This is how it happened.
6/x) The 13th Amendment declared that "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." (Ratified in 1865)
7/x) Did you catch that? It says, “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude could occur except as a punishment for a crime.” Lawmakers used this phrase to make petty offenses crimes. When Blacks were found guilty of committing these crimes, they were imprisoned and then
8/x) leased out to the same businesses that lost slaves after the passing of the 13th Amendment. This system of convict labor is called peonage.
The majority of White Southern farmers and business owners hated the 13th Amendment because it took away slave labor.
The majority of White Southern farmers and business owners hated the 13th Amendment because it took away slave labor.
9/x) As a way to appease them, the federal government turned a blind eye when southern states used this clause in the 13th Amendment to establish laws called Black Codes.
10/x) Here are some examples of Black Codes:
In Louisiana, it was illegal for a Black man to preach to Black congregations without special permission in writing from the president of the police. If caught, he could be arrested and fined.
In Louisiana, it was illegal for a Black man to preach to Black congregations without special permission in writing from the president of the police. If caught, he could be arrested and fined.
11/x) If he could not pay the fines, which were unbelievably high, he would be forced to work for them, or go to prison where he would work until his debt was paid. If a Black person did not have a job, they could be arrested and imprisoned on the charge of vagrancy or loitering.
12/x) This next Black Code will make you cringe. In South Carolina, if the parent of a Black child was considered vagrant, the judicial system allowed the police and/or other government agencies to “apprentice” the child to an "employer".
13/x) Males could be held until the age of 21, females until they were 18. Their owner had the legal right to punish the child for disobedience, & to recapture them if they ran away. Peonage is an example of systemic racism - Racism established & perpetuated by government systems
14/x) Slavery was made legal by the U.S. Government. Segregation, Black Codes, Jim Crow, & peonage were all made legal by the government, & upheld by the judicial system. These acts of racism were built into the system, which is where the term “Systemic Racism” is derived.
15/x) My thanks to Damon K Roberts for providing the bulk of this info, which I have minorly edited and reformatted to fit on this platform.
His Facebook page can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/damonkroberts
Thanks for listening.
#BlackLivesMatter
#NoJusticeNoPeace
His Facebook page can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/damonkroberts
Thanks for listening.
#BlackLivesMatter
#NoJusticeNoPeace
