Modern Day Slavery : A Problem That Can 't Be Ignored

Researchers found that more than ten thousand people are in forced labor across 90 US cities. These people are forced to work in sweatshops, clean homes, work on farms, or work as prostitutes or strippers. Many of these cases are accumulated in areas with large immigrant populations, like California, New York, and Florida. Most of the victims of forced labor are “imported” from 38 different countries. China, Mexico, and Vietnam top this list of countries (Gilmore 1).

It is sad but today people are being bought, sold, and smuggled like modern-day slavery plus it's happening not only in third world countries, but also in the United States. In the U.S Constitution the 13th Amendment states,“‘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”’ (A+E Networks,2015), which means the 13th amendment made slavery and involuntary servitude illegal everywhere in the United States. Human Trafficking can be limited by parental awareness to educate their own children to be safe. Human Trafficking also be limited by the government having stricter country and international

Social problems relate to unacceptable or unwanted conditions that a majority of individuals believes should be rectified. It can be argued that slavery was once a social problem that stemmed from inequality based on widely held beliefs regarding race and ethnicity. As we discussed in class, slavery was primarily based on the belief held by the majority of White people that Black people were racially inferior. It can be argued that social changes in relation to beliefs on race and ethnicity have eliminated the social problem of slavery.

A couple hundred years ago, almost everybody was using slaves in many different ways. Slaves were not free and did not have the right of making a choice or being free. Now America has given us many privileges that most countries don’t have, in the past years of our generation. America’s gifts to my generation include equality and freedom of having a dream and making a choice.

Human trafficking is something that has gone on for a very long time, beginning as early as the 1400s with slaves being used and traded. As stated by Jones, Hillard, and Diaz (2007), “human trafficking is both a global problem and a domestic problem” (p.108-109), meaning human trafficking affects and takes place all over the world. Overpopulation, poverty, and so forth, are examples of domestic problems; they also increasing the chances of human trafficking taking place. Immigrants are usually the ones exploited for human trafficking with promises of great pay, jobs, living, and comfort. Trafficking, unlike smuggling, is correlated with deception to ultimately achieve exploitation. Since they don’t have rights as citizens, and are technically illegally here, immigrants comply with the orders they are given (Jonas et al., 2007).

The PBS documentary “Slavery by Any Other Name” was taken place from 1865 to 1945 in the North and South. That was eight decades of slavery. The narrator of this story had a neutral tone throughout the film. It covered slavery and the new forms of force labor that occurred after the 13th Amendment was passed.

The American Revolution cost Virginia and Maryland their tobacco markets and for a period of time after the Revolution the future of slavery in the United States. Most of the northern states abolished slavery and even Virginia debated whether or not to abolish it as well. The invention of the cotton gin in 1793 gave slavery a new life in the United States. Between 1800-1860, the cotton that was produced came from slaves that were from South Carolina and Georgia, reaching to the colonized lands west of the Mississippi.

America imports almost 90 percent of its seafood, so it's not a surprise that some of that comes from Thailand, the world's third biggest exporter of seafood. What might surprise you is that modern day slaves scattered about the small Indonesian islands caught a large portion of that seafood. From pet food manufacturers, to restaurants, and supermarkets, many unsuspecting Americans and their pets are helping finance slavery and human trafficking.

“The fact is, that civilization requires slaves. The Greeks were quite right there. Unless there are slaves to do the ugly, horrible, uninteresting work, culture and contemplation become almost impossible.” - OSCAR WILDE, The Soul of Man Under Socialism

The work that employers gave to the children did not benefit them in any way. As seen in the Lewis Hine videos, children lacked the physical capability to work with factory machinery, which led to several accidents where a child might lose a finger or in some cases even worse. A significantly more useful task for these children would be giving them the opportunity to a full time education, but they could not do so due to the work they must complete. Additionally, the work that they completed often times left them drained of energy, therefore leaving them malnourished and fatigued. In the case of Johnny from The Rebel, his frail and skeletal stature revealed the toll that the alleged “useful” work took on child laborers. Not only was the work given to these children extremely dangerous, but their wages were insufficient as well, therefore proving the fact that employers were not really doing the poor much of a favor at

Slavery was abolished over a century ago and our country faced a civil rights movement that changed the future of America forever. However, even though these milestones left footprints changing the perception of Americans, racism hasn’t ended whatsoever. If you look at America in a broad scale, people from all religious affiliations, racial backgrounds, and sexual orientation intermingling and living their life no longer rocked by the giant earthquakes of racism like in the 1900s. Yet, if you take away this mask and see the dirty truth, you can see that America is still being rocked by these earthquakes, only at small scales. US News published an article titled “Racist Messages at Air Force Academy Prep School Dorm Written by Target Black Student.”

“When people in the United States think of children 's rights they usually think of children in third world countries who are victims of abusive child labor practices or insurmountable poverty” (Wilson 1). However, in reality it is not just in third world countries, it is also in the United States. From the American colonial period till the mid nineteenth century, child labor has been an important issue. It has taken many years to come to an agreement of the definition of child labor. One way to define child labor is: “All forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage and serfdom, and forced or compulsory labor, including-forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in

It has been stated by President Obama and acknowledged by many world leaders that trafficking humans is a form of modern slavery that violates human rights, country security, economies, and public health. It has become a global issue in our society, which is now known as modern day slavery. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) say it is one of the most difficult crimes to fight. They are forced into prostitution, involuntary labor and other forms of servitude to repay debts which are often incurred during entry into the United States. In most cases, the victims are children. They find themselves surrounded by an unfamiliar culture and language without identification documents, fearing for

So factory and mine owners depended on child labor greatly. They especially depended on children who were good with their hands and parents realizing an extra income often forced their children into work. As a result, children got abused and injured constantly. In Aspects of Western Civilization, Rogers refers to different accounts of children being physically deformed for life as a result of their employment. He also provides statistics on children's death causes, which include causes like: falling down the shafts, drowning in the mines, suffocating of choke-damp. "An imperfect abstract from the registration of deaths for the year 1838, gives a total, in p. 177-178

We've heard it all before. “Just deal with it” or “That’s impossible”. But have you ever wondered why it is so quickly declared impossible? It’s definitely hard to change something so quickly on your own but changing something doesn't have to happen the next day. Theres nothing that can be changed that quickly. Consistency as well as patience is what promotes change.