Enslaved

On January 1, 1808, a law pushed through by Thomas Jefferson took effect, banning the importation of enslaved people. 

From 1808 to the start of the Civil War, the number of enslaved people rose from about 750,000 to 4,000,000.   Some smuggling took place, mainly via Florida and Texas, who, for a while, had not yet joined the nation they would degrade. But most of the additional enslaved people were (in a sense) manufactured through a forced birth program using enslaved women of color. 

In those days an enslaved human being was worth the equivalent of several tens of thousands of dollars. If a whitefella who owned women forced them to give birth, he could get rich.

Today's supreme Court majority, composed of four women haters and a hand-maiden, has handed Texas and Florida the right to return to the forced birth policies of slavery. 

This time around there I see no financial advantage for owners, except to increase the number of workers competing for each job. But the court decision does give states the right to clamp down on women, control them, push them down the social ladder. The oppressors of women must be elated. 

Women (and many sons, brothers, husbands and fathers) will rebel. Some major city leaders have already announced a refusal to enforce the new slave laws. The fight has just begun.  

 

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