National prison strike launches over underpaid labor and prison conditions

Re:National prison strike launches over underpaid labor and ... by Broken_Hippo on Tuesday August 21, 2018 @04:58PM (#17813754)

Just because it is in the constitution doesn't make it right. That is a document designed to be changed, after all.

Women couldn't vote for quite some time. Some people weren't fully human. Only landowners could vote. And so on.

Furthermore, it being in the constitution still doesn't detract from it being slavery.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:National prison strike launches over underpaid labor and ... by ghayes on Tuesday August 21, 2018 @05:54PM (#17814186)

Also, the Constitution is a minimum bound on rights, not a maximum. We don't need to change the Constitution to make just laws.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:National prison strike launches over underpaid labor and ... by YokoZar on Tuesday August 21, 2018 @06:28PM (#17814423)

We were comfortable calling slavery by what it was back then, and we shouldn't shy away from the term if that's what's still happening. The constitution defining slavery doesn't make it right. But it does imply we shouldn't mince words.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:National prison strike launches over underpaid labor and ... by solidsnack9000 on Wednesday August 22, 2018 @12:07AM (#17816220)

Even if we accept that it being in the Constitution makes it right, it is permitting slavery as a punishment and not as an expedient.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:National prison strike launches over underpaid labor and ... by arthur_pryor on Wednesday August 22, 2018 @02:59AM (#17816886)

i agree that's one way to read it, but it seems plausible to me that the intent really was just as a winnable end-run around abolition.

[ Parent | on HN ]