View the documentary entitled “Slavery By Another Name”. In this documentary you see that in the south, slavery did not particularly end in 1865. In an effort to prevent the southern economy from being completely crippled (as a result of not having access to free labor), southern states made harsh laws to imprison African Americans. African Americans received harsh penalties for things such as speaking loudly in the company of white woman, spitting, drinking and even selling products from their own farms after dark. African Americans would often receive felonies and while jailed they were forced to work under harsh conditions. Some inmates were actually worked to death. It was not a coincidence that when it was cotton season the rate at which African Americans were jailed increased. Convicts were leased by the jails to the private industries and Convict Leasing become big business for the jail owners.

Note: Only 10% of those being arrested in the south this time were white.

Watch the movie? Do you see any similarities in today’s justice system? Has this ugly foundation been completely removed from our current justice system. What are your thoughts? Please share