GUESTLIST
2016 / ISSUE 87
11
GUESTLIST
Angola Prison is located on
an 18,000 acre stretch of land
made up of former slave-labour
cotton plantations, one of which
was known as 'Angola.' If you
haven't figured it out yet, it was
named after the Southern African
country where many of the
plantation's slaves originated.
In 1901 Louisiana state bought
the land and opened it as a
prison. What followed were
over 100 years of awful living
conditions, racial abuse, violence
and murder.
Some quick facts:
1. Today there are over 5,100
inmates at Angola Prison.
2. 75-80% of them are black.
3. In New Orleans 1 in every 14
black men is currently behind
bars.
4. Meanwhile the majority of the
1,600 live-in employees are white;
some are likely descendants of
the slave traders that owned this
land generations ago.
In the USA there is no
minimum wage for convicts,
so the prisoners are paid as
little as $2 a day. The forced
labour is rebranded as a 'work
programme,' as though helping
to rehabilitate the prisoners.
Spotlight - Robert
King:
1. 1972 - King was sent to
Angola Prison (aged 18) for a
crime he didn't commit.
2. He spent 31 years inside - 29
in solitary confinement.
3. He formed the Angola 3,
leaders of the prison's Black
Panther movement for equality.
4. 2001 - King was proven
innocent and freed.
Since his release King has been
very outspoken about Angola
Prison: "There was a prisoner
slave trade and rampant rape;
inmates slept with J.C. Penney
catalogs tied to their waists for
protection." - NPR.
"Prisoners worked out in the
field, sometimes 17 hours straight,
rain or shine." - GlobalResearch.
As NPR reported in 2008, "In the
distance on this day, 100 black
men toil, bent over in the field,
while a single white officer on a
horse sits above them, a shotgun
in his lap." A stark image of
modern slavery in the USA.
Let's talk about the one thing we all love avoiding. Not wars, politics or immigrants apparently "coming here taking all of
our jobs" (sort it out England) and not tax rises. Let's talk about shifting our life choices. Yes, OUR life choices!
MODERN SLAVE LABOUR IN THE HEART
OF LOUISIANA
