New Age Slavery in American

He who is the cause of another man's greatness is himself undone."
​--Nicolo Machiavelli, The Prince.

From America's founding, African Americans represent a major source of the United States’ political and economic greatness through the institution of slavery. This practice has not ended, but changed name and expression. During the final phase of the 2008 presidential election, the candidates narrowed between Barack Obama and John McCain. When Obama became the first black president elected into the oval office, many African Americans believed a critical turning point in U.S. history blossomed. Was it?
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Looking back at the eight years of the Obama administration, there is a stark contrast between the expectations of Black Americans and the actions of the former president. And what were their expectations? Simply put, it is a better life; a life where they own property in their own safe communities; a life where they can expect a grant to startup their own small business; a life where they can receive higher education without being overwhelmed by student loans; a life where they earn enough income to meet the cost of living and still have money left over to save; a life where if an atrocity occurs on a member of their noble race, the defendant is convicted; a life where they have more leverage than a march to impose their interests to get bills passed and implemented.

Now with present Trump administration, the hope of securing justice and equality is unclear. One might ask why former president Obama couldn't make any significant and sustainable changes on behalf of the African American community. The answer lies in one word---slavery.
Many black people in America believe slavery abolished through the 13th U.S. Constitutional Amendment and more officially at the height of the Civil Rights Movement. This delusion is understandable because of the passing of protective laws regulating discrimination, liberating the right to vote, and banning the segregation of public facilities. Increased numbers of black government officials and wealthy elites such as celebrities, athletes, and entrepreneurs paint a convincing mirage of progress.
In no way does this truism discredit the sacrifices of leaders like Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks. Rather, it indicates that abolitionist movement and Civil Rights Movement were incomplete social movements. There is a difference between equality and political equality. By dictionary definition equality is “the state of being equal, especially in status, rights, or opportunity.” In U.S. law equality is associated with equal opportunity, but often excludes policies or practices that create additional challenges to seize opportunity.
Political equality is the state of equal or comparable control over putting to effect one’s interests (what you need and want) regardless to an opposing interest (those who oppose your obtainment of your needs and want). There are ways to impose one’s interest in the face of resistance. We call such ways leverage. The social movements described did provide some Legal leverage, but not all Legal leverages are recognized in court, which is why an interest group needs a variety of leverages to protect and pursue their interests. These social movements did not provide African Americans with enough power to safeguard and expand their interests and shield them from threats.
Therefore, racial persecution was never eradicated, but merely transformed. We’re part of a world that mutually declared all people equal and free from oppression with laws putting this value in writing. Therefore, practices of human drudgery and exploitation would either need realistic explanation or justification for it’s existence. New forms of slavery has expressed itself under activities like human-trafficking, the private prison system, the illegal drug industry, gang-stalking, and mind control technologies that can alter one's neurological processes. All of these are signs of new age slavery and it is important to examine these signs in detail and relate them to the slavery of old. Looking over the history of the United States between the seventeenth & eighteenth century, as slave owners subjected African Americans to the traditional forms of servitude, such as working on cotton plantations or attending to remedial tasks in the home as house servants, these conditions marked a designated political position known as ascribed status. This meant that black families who were slaves and had children would be born into slavery at birth; and remain in a perpetual cycle of servitude. It functioned like a caste system, where blacks could not engage in any activity or practice outside the scope their political status, such as owning property, voting, or having a right to their own freewill. Yet, how is this similar to today? To answer this question we must analyze the main characteristics of slavery to see how it fits in 2018. Firstly, the conditions of slavery was marked by a high level of dependence on their task master for the basic means of livelihood, like food, clothing, and shelter. Second, having an inability to defend against persecution and harm by having no means to protect oneself against threats. Third, having no alternative place to reside except with one's out-group. And most importantly, having a willingness to comply with the demands of the opposing group because fear of death and or adverse conditions. All four of these characteristics ensures that slavery remains an on-going institution. If we return back to the case of Barack Obama, as he succeeded in becoming the President of the United States, we can look at the characteristics of slavery in relation to his position. To begin with, the majority of the federal senators as well as representatives in congress were dominated by people who represent corporate interest. Since Obama did not have any leverage or negotiating tool to have the congressional members side with the policies he wanted to enact, it created a division between the executive and legislative branch. Thus, if congress didn't agree to Obama's proposal they could simply obtain a 2/3 vote in the house and prevent any significant law or policy from being passed that would improve the conditions of African Americans. According to Jonathan Topaz from Politico, the GOP blocked 500 pieces of legislation that was meant to help the middle class through their oppositional solidarity against former President Obama. Such opposition put Obama on a very tight leash, in regards to the changes he could make for African Americans and the average citizen in general. Another example occurred with the killing of Trayvon Martin, in 2012, by George Zimmerman. One might think that a Black President with a degree in law could ensure that the killer would be at least subject to a life-sentence in jail, but the Florida court Judges gave Zimmerman a not guilty verdict, under the premise of self-defense. At the end, all President Obama could do about this matter is say the incident requires national "soul searching." Although Obama was the president he could not interfere in the proceedings of the Florida state court because it would technically be outside of his jurisdiction. The structural division of political authority from the federal government to state and local governing bodies is the effect of "Federalism" and is the reason why *President Obama's hands were tied*. This victory for Zimmerman meant, from a political view, that anyone in a law enforcement position can kill black people without facing any "real opposition" and thus pave the way for more Black people to be killed in the future, like in the case of Freddie Grey, Michael Brown, and Eric Gardener. Another example to examine is when President Obama put sanctions on the state of Israel for its inhumane activities in the middle-east. However, in 2015 President Obama signed a bill that was to provide Israel thirty-eight billion dollars over the course of ten years for their defense fund, according to the New York Times. Among the many bills that the Republicans opposed since President Obama's term of office, this was the few bills that everyone could agree upon. Looking back again at the Trayvon and Zimmerman case, Israel functioned politically like George Zimmerman, Palestine was like unto that of Trayvon Martin, and the United States was in the place of the Florida court judges who decided on Zimmerman's not guilty verdict. Since the United States is a permanent member of the UN security council, America can veto anything Israel does that is offensive in other countries and not be sanctioned or reprimanded. In fact, the U.S has imposed over thirty vetoes in the past to protect them from being accountable for its crimes. The state of Israel, like Zimmerman, has also justified its actions on the premise of self defense and with over three-billion per year for its military funding from America, it is a disturbing switch from President Obama's former stance. At the local level, African Americans have experienced political suppression in the form of voter discrimination, since 2010. This is mainly taking place in southern states where there are large Black populations like Alabama, Texas, South Carolina, and Virginia. Some of the tactics they use are new voter I.D requirements, creating difficulties in voter registration, and even inhibiting early voting. If we look at the Shelby v. Holder decision in 2013, the supreme court ruled that it would be unconstitutional for them to enforce the 14th and 15th amendment upon other states based on past acts of discrimination and could not interfere on the sovereignty of the states in this regard; and President Obama, as with the Trayvon Martin case, could not reverse the supreme court decision nor in the states where such discrimination was taking place. To better understand former President Obama's position we can compare it to that of the Chief Executive Officer of a corporation. The board of directors is equivalent to the congress, who act in the expectations of their shareholders, to ensure the company's interest. However, if the CEO acted against the interest of the board of directors he could be fired and replaced. The same goes for the President of the United States. If the congress felt the president was not acting in their interest he could be impeached. The shareholders in this case are the wealthy donors (big corporations) who support their candidates once they come to office rather than the people. In essence, being the president of the United States is simply an over-gloried employee of the United States government and as along as that employee does what he told he will have a smooth ride in office. Due to the fact that former President Obama was dependent upon a people who have no interest in the needs of Black people without any form of coercive influence displays a slave condition.

The economic perspective of slavery is the key focal point in the development and growth of the United States. In the earlier example about the conditions of African Americans on cotton plantations one must ask what are the new southern plantation owners and slave ships in 2018? Today, they typically present themselves as businesses and corporations. Black people are no longer called field-hands, but employees working at minimum wage for predominately white-owned companies and in other cases they are prison laborers. It is true that there is technically no laws restricting African Americans from moving up the economic latter, but the likelihood of achieving such upward mobility has a very low probability; based on statistics and current economic trends. During the civil rights movement Black people were able to overcome racial segregation, but today they face economic segregation, which forces Black people to live in designated areas. Therefore, by gradually increasing the cost of living to an amount that their income can't afford, it pushes African Americans out of select neighborhoods without appearing discriminating. Albeit, income not only determines where Black people live, but also their health. According to a study by Amani Nuru Jeter, associate professor at California Berkeley, poverty has been related to the increased deaths of African Americans as the income inequality increases between Blacks and Whites. The study further indicated that poor Caucasians benefit from being in high income White communities whereas higher income Blacks tend to be distanced away from poor African American neighborhoods and go into middle to upper class Caucasian communities to live. As a result, low income Blacks receive no support because there is very few upper class Black communities to which they can benefit from and are thus financially segregated to the high crime and drug invested neighborhoods in general. As for the future of the median wealth of Black Americans, it is projected that their wealth will fall to zero by the year 2053, based on studies from Prosperity Now and The Institute for Policy Studies. In the year 2020 the wealth of African Americans is expected to decrease by 18% from the wealth they had in 2013. Research has also found that Blacks working in professional jobs earn the equivalent to white high school dropouts. This economic epidemic will continue to proliferate as the income inequality gap broadens. However, aside from an adverse economic future outlook, what is the level of ownership and wealth among African Americans in general? To begin with, the level of homeownership among Black people is at 41.7% which was noted for being lower than during the Great Depression, according to the research of Los Angeles attorney, Antonio Moore, sourced from The National Association of Real Estate Brokers 2016. In terms of net worth, about half the number of all Black households possess less than $1700 after expenses. In contrast, median white households have a net worth close to $100,000. Aside from the low level of homeownership, African Americans are also the largest renters in the United States, whether they are renting apartments or homes, their status remains the same - they own nothing. The obstacles in transitioning from renting to homeownership is not only a matter of income, but also credit, being a new means of exclusion. Since renting does not boost one's credit and the average African American generally has too many financial obstacles to raise their score to the desired level, those who do qualify for a home loan usually end up with bad loan terms, like having a high interest and adjustable rate mortgages which put them at risk of defaulting on their monthly payments. For Blacks who have wealth and are financially independent, they too face discrimination in the business sector, where companies like Comcast and Charter actually refuse to do business with completely Black-owned companies in the media industry. Such behavior is reminiscent to the Jim Crow laws of the past, but under the context of economics. The area of education is another unsettled matter, as it concerns economic development. Aside from schools like Wilbur Force and Central State, African Americans do not have enough private universities or colleges to support Black students across the nation. As a result, they end up going to mainstream universities. From a financial perspective, the money of black students (whether out of pocket or through financial aid) enriches colleges their people do not own. African Americans then become subject to the admission criteria of these colleges, where they determine whether they want to accept Black applicants or not and how many should be admitted to their schools. Even after Black students graduate from college, whether as a doctors, lawyers, or engineers there are very limited companies that are owned and controlled by their people. As a consequence, Black people have to overcome racial barriers in the area of employment. Yet, more disturbing than this is the level of student loan debt being taken by African American students. It has been reported that Black people have the highest student loan debt in the United States and almost half of Black borrowers default on their loans; leaving them with a financial struggle after graduation. Student loan debt has also contributed to the poverty of African Americans and because they typically do not have better alternatives, such as scholarships and grants to finance their education. In the 1960's and 70's education for Black students was mostly financed through scholarships and grants and did not place young students into a web of debt with compounded interest. Today, however, taking up loans is a common trend to fulfill a degree program. From this perspective, even a pursuit toward an education in America is a snare for black people. Since African Americans as a whole own so little in various sectors including retail, transportation, banks, housing, and education it leaves them in a constant state of dependency for their needs and wants.

However, all that has been mentioned thus far regarding modern day slavery barely scratches the surface of the many inhuman activities that take place in the United States. The real sinister activities is tucked within the crime industry, whether that is deemed "legal" or "illegal." Let us begin with the Prison Industrial Complex (being a legalized enterprise, but criminal in nature) which is in the business of providing cheap labor to companies from incarcerated inmates. In fact, one can actually invest in this enterprise by purchasing shares on the stock exchange, such as Corrections Corporation America. This, as a consequence, creates a money-profit motive for law enforcement to incarcerate people for the smallest of incidents. Since 1979, it has been legalized for businesses to use prison labor through the Prison Industry Enhancement Certification Program. The prison industry has made 500 million dollars in 2016, paying the inmates less than a dollar per day (like in third world countries) and in whole is a billion dollar industry, according to the Al Jazeera article Slavery in the prison system by David A. love and Vijay Das (2017). The inmates are generally composed of African Americans and it has been reported that Black people get incarcerated five times more than whites. The companies which make use of prison labor includes Walmart, Starbucks, Nordstrom, Whole Foods, Target, Victoria's Secret, and Mac Donald's to name a few. Prison labor is not just limited to food and retail, but defense contractors such as Boeing, Raytheon, and Lockheed Martin. Other areas of labor include call-centers and manufacturing plants. Thus, when Black people shop at businesses that use prison labor they are essentially supporting the enslavement and misery of their own people. The foundation to such corrupt practices has been made possible over 100 years ago, through the 13th Amendment, which allows slavery if one is convicted of a crime. In the past, blacks were wrongfully murdered and lynched through the myth of the black rapist in southern states. Today, the new tactic is to project black men with a criminal conduct and attire. Examples can be observed in derogatory rap music (using the N word), where a thug culture is glorified; movies that depict African-American men as killers and drug addicts, like in The Diary Of A Mad Black Woman; and the other ways Black people are negatively depicted in the news and media. Such images and ideas causes people to then perceive Black men as inherent criminals and at the same time encourages the youth to mimic bad behavior and style of dress. This helps to project the idea of Black people sporadically harming each other in poor neighborhoods as "Black on Black" killing to hide the murders of African Americans by whites. However, to make such a presentation more convincing, it is necessary to make Black communities problematic, by having their neighborhoods plagued with illegal drugs and guns so that criminal activity is constant. Since African Americans do not manufacture drugs then the question remains - who is? During the 1990's, it was reported by Gary Webb, an American Investigative Journalist, that the CIA was involved in drug trafficking, like Cocaine, and used Latin American militant groups and gangs to spread such drugs in Black neighborhoods, in central Los Angeles through a pipeline between Colombia and Los Angeles. This helped lead to a high epidemic of such illegal drug cartels in many parts of America. One of the chief supporters of the information brought forth by Gary Webb was Congresswoman Maxine Waters. Aside from the prison and illegal drug industry, which generally target Black men, human-trafficking is another criminal enterprise that typically targets Black women. Human-trafficking is defined, under U.S Federal Law, (A) as sex trafficking in which commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age; or (B) recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services through the use of force, fraud or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery. This practice is a current issue in America and is prevalent in states like Texas, California, and Ohio; where 200,000 - 300,000 minors get trafficked every year in America. It has been described by Cheryl Nelson Butler, Assistant Professor of Law at Southern Methodist University Dedman school of law, that human-trafficking has its roots in slavery. If we recall the old "Jezebel" stereotype used against Black women during slavery, which associated them with negative epithets such as immorality, promiscuousness, and being overly-fertile led to the continuous abuse and exploitation of African American women by white men. In contrast, Caucasian women became associated with chastity, moral uprightness, and purity. From these type of social constructs, this meant that Black women could be left vulnerable to torture and have it appear deserved whereas white women would be a respected and protected class; based on these racial perceptions. Although such propaganda was used during the eighteen and nineteen hundreds these same stereotypes are used today on African American women to put them under the same conditions. Today, Black women's bodies are frequently objectified in various industries like through music videos, movies, and in fashion to enforce the modern Jezebel label. At the local level, in most Black neighborhoods where crime and poverty are in excess, African American women usually have very limited opportunities and unstable families, leavening them prey to human-traffickers for easy money. These traffickers come in different forms such as a modeling opportunity, a boyfriend, marriage, or a debt situation. Once they become ensnared in these programs Black women are frequently beaten and threatened to force compliance. African American women thus become subject to rape and forced pregnancy as they have during old slavery. The victims of human-trafficking often lose control of their possessions, like their clothes and are replaced by indecent attire; or lose the possession of their identification documents that proves their identity and address. They are made to act distant and abrasive toward their family to keep them isolated. To add insult to injury, there has been many cases where the justice system in the United States help facilitate human-trafficking, in regards to race, because the judges tend to view Black women as prostitutes rather than as victims - thus allowing the issue to remain perpetual.

Two other criminal practices, that is rarely discussed, is "electronic harassment" and "Gang-stalking." Electronic harassment is the use of technological weaponry to harm people covertly - often from remote distances, like through the use of intense microwave beams that is invisible to the human eye. Gang-stalking is a form of organized stalking by select people who engage in a set routine to monitor and torment the victim. A person can become a victim to these type of programs in various ways as long as there is a condition that can be exploited such as belonging to a vulnerable class, like being African American; financially destitute; holding controversial political views; or simply meeting the wrong type of person or group. According to Dr. Rauni Luukanen Kilde, Former Chief Medical Doctor of Finland, there has been reports and discussions concerning electronic control of the mind. An example of this agenda comes from a quote by Dr. Jose Delgado, former Director of Neuropsychiatry Yale University Medical School during Congressional Record, No. 26, Vol. 118 on February 24, 1974:

"Man does NOT HAVE THE RIGHT to develop his own mind. This kind of liberal orientation has great appeal. We must ELECTRICALLY CONTROL THE BRAIN. Some day armies and generals will be controlled by electric stimulation of the brain."

Various techniques have been employed to control the mind, specifically by means of microchip implants and low frequency electromagnetic radiation. This type of harmful technology has been classified as "non-lethal" weaponry. One of the earliest experiments, by the use of brain implants was conducted in the state of Ohio, in 1874. During the advancement of technology in the 1950's and 60's, scientist like Dr. Carl Sanders have created microchips that can control one's neurological processes, which can influence a person's thoughts, movement, emotions, and auditory experiences. Microchip implants were initially the size of a grain of rice, but later was reduced to a few micrometers in length. This allowed for it to be covertly inserted in people's bodies, often through surgical operations from medical institutions; some of which have participated in the MK Ultra program in the past. Once these biochips are within the body they can be used to track one's location around the world by satellite. Some of the health side effects of microchip implants is associated with cancer and tumors. Verichip, is a company that uses a special covering over the microchip called the anti-migration cap. The cap is made of polypropylene, which is a specialized thermal plastic, that the body's defenses cannot breakdown. As a result, the immune system surrounds the implant in the process inflammation to engulf the foreign object so that it doesn't move to other parts of the body. This leads to cancer and tumors over time because it makes it difficult for the body to regulate the additional cellular production. When the human body becomes too inflamed by these unnatural tumors it causes low oxygen levels, lethargy, weakened immune system, poor circulation, and many other adverse effects that can eventually lead to the death of the victim from such covert forms of harassment; or in a more familiar sense, it can be seen as modern day lynching from the inside out.

The first person to prove in a court of law and succeeded with regards to electronic harassment and gang-stalking was James Walbert. The incident began in 2004, in Wichita Kansas. Walbert was an inventor of an anti-microbial seal to an aluminum can. The tension was started from a business deal that went wrong with Jeremiah Redford, who wanted to market his product. When he refused the deal, Redford threatened to harm him with jolts of radiation. From that point onward Walbert experienced harm from direct energy weapons (both land & satellite based), involuntarily microchipped with RF ID tags made by Verichip, noise campaigns, telephone tampering, cell phone interceptions & jamming, spying, breaking into his house, etc. However, Walbert was fortunate to be able to present a series of overwhelming evidence to the Sedgwick County District Court including MRI scans, Forensic reports, technological specialist, photographs, and gathered support from influential people like James O. Guest, an aerospace engineer and congressional representative from Missouri who received about 300 complaints from people experiencing electronic harassment. Although James Walbert is not African American, his case shows that all groups are vulnerable to this type of torture, except this matter is more serious for Black people because they are the most vulnerable group of people in the United States to this type of covert terrorism. A more recent complaint concerning electronic harassment was in 2017 from a memorandum sent to President Trump. This memorandum was sent by many people of diverse and educated backgrounds such as Karen Stewart (former NSA Intelligence Analyst) and Ramola D (author & activist) to stop the involuntary electronic harassment programs and human experimentation by specific agencies. The fact that many people in the United States, and across the globe are complaining about these type of crimes and how public officials are refusing to address them is already a bad sign. Looking again at the high dependency of Black people in both areas of politics and economics leaves them as prime candidates to these covert programs. The Walbert case seems to indicate that the tactics used since project MK ULTRA in the 1950's is being used today, but with improved technological advancement. Such improvements include the ability of defense contractors and other companies to neurologically alter one's behavior by means of low frequency radiation; microchips that can cause physical harm; the ability to electronically induce individuals to harm innocent people against their will; and the capacity to manipulate a person's biological processes from a remote distance has created a new form of terrorism today.

In the examination of new age slavery, whether that is the political monopoly of institutions, the economic subjugation of specific groups, or the underground programs of control by way of crime and technology there is evidence that there are new methods of enforcing old slavery. These activities are being executed by the modern day corporate slave-owners, who possess the majority of the wealth and power in this country to change laws in a way that benefit only a select few. The issue is that many black people believe they can resolve these type of problems in the same manner as they have during the civil rights movement by merely voting, protesting, and petitioning. This is a different era from the 60's, where the businessmen have the highest influence over government officials and could care less about rights of citizens. As long as Black people are willing to accept any condition imposed upon them, they will repeat the events which initiated the transatlantic slave trade. Since African Americans are being killed and enslaved for artificially induced offenses and minor incidents, means that they are experiencing a silent genocide masked under the pretense of safety and security; as well as the false hope given by political and religious discourse for a better tomorrow. The African migrants in America (a.k.a African Americans) need to develop new and innovative solutions to uphold their group interests, regardless of who is elected, since former President Obama proved that the political system does not work for African Americans, among many other past examples. Black people must remember that they are fighting more than just a group, but a mentality, that will constantly employ new tactics to destroy them and will create legal loopholes around the law that benefits only certain groups, which was the case with Trayvon and Shelby v. Holder case. When a human being's existence and way of life is threatened, they must find a way to survive on their terms and not on the terms of another person's threat. This is what Black people must do about bioweaponry and racism.

References

https://www.brennancenter.org/analysis/election-2016-restrictive-voting-laws-numbers#newrestrictivevotinglaws2016

https://ballotpedia.org/Shelby_County_v._Holder