BodhipaksaJan 29, 2023

A HS student to their TX school board, which is banning books:

“I’m not going to sit here and talk about the slippery slope that book banning leads to because I learned from a book, that I checked out from my school’s library, that I don’t need to resort to logical fallacy to make a point. I’m simply going to say that no government – and public school is an extension of government – has ever banned books, and banned information from its public, and been remembered in history as the good guys.”

Show threadBodhipaksaJan 29, 2023
https://www.essence.com/news/michelle-obama-book-ban/
A Children’s Biography About Michelle Obama Among The Books Texas Parents Want To Ban

White, conservative backlash is being propped up by Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who is calling for criminal charges against school staff for providing children with certain books.

Essence
Show threadflutterfli007Jan 29, 2023
@bodhipaksa abbott's america still has slaves
Show threadRenato Ramonda

@flutterfli007

@bodhipaksa

...*all* of America still has slaves.

The 13th amendment explicitly says slavery is allowed for people convicted for a crime.

Which is the legal basis for the US prison industry.

Jan 29, 2023 at 7:32pmWeb
Show threadArtemis13AthenaJan 30, 2023
@renatoram @flutterfli007 @bodhipaksa I've been saying this for years. I'm glad someone else gets it.
Show threadRenato RamondaJan 30, 2023

@Artemis13Athena [email protected] @bodhipaksa I was honestly shocked when I learned it. I'm not American, so it's not like I go out of my way to read US Constitution Amendments, I think I learned it in an ep of WNYC's "More Perfect"

We learn "the Civil War was fought to end slavery and it was abolished at the end" in high school (Italy) and... it was not! It was RATIFIED PERMANENTLY, with just a tiny precondition. What was technically ended was chattel slavery, and really, only barely.

Show threadArtemis13AthenaJan 30, 2023
@renatoram @bodhipaksa yes, it is shocking and shameful. But corporations run the country with the politicians they have bought, so it is very slow to change.
Show threadRenato RamondaJan 30, 2023

@Artemis13Athena @bodhipaksa when one learns it (AND the fact that private for-profit prisons exist), suddenly the absurdly high incarceration rate of the US makes way more sense.

And has deep, heavy consequences elsewhere: how many jobs' markets were basically artificially depressed by the availability of ultra-cheap/free prison labor? I bet many ppl in favor of that system don't even see it's hamstringing their families too.

But then, anti-labor sentiment and policy is nothing new, either

Show threadArtemis13AthenaJan 30, 2023
@renatoram @bodhipaksa yes. And the high incidence of poc being jailed for crimes makes it so obvious to me that I have trouble believing that others can't see it.
Show threadStrawberrySystem (she/they)Jan 31, 2023
@renatoram @flutterfli007 @bodhipaksa
If you want a Hollywood movie that talks about this, from the 1930-34 era where they were at their most progressive and raunchy, I’d recommend I Am A Fugitive from a Chain Gang, directed by Mervyn LeRoy in '32
Show threadBodhipaksaJan 31, 2023
@alena_03 @renatoram @flutterfli007 Thanks. It looks interesting, and I'll definitely check it out. Looks like a largely white cast, though? Does it deal with race at all?
Show threadStrawberrySystem (she/they)Jan 31, 2023
@bodhipaksa @renatoram @flutterfli007 I’m not sure, but it was a different time
Show threadBodhipaksaJan 31, 2023

@alena_03 @renatoram @flutterfli007 Indeed. Hollywood didn't employ many black actors and usually then only in minor or demeaning roles.

It would seem illustrative, though, that a film about a constitutional provision designed to ensure that Black Americans could still be enslaved would center on white people.

Show threadStrawberrySystem (she/they)Feb 2, 2023
@bodhipaksa @renatoram @flutterfli007 indeed, at the time the film caused major prison reforms….which reagan did away with