If the First Paragraph of This Alone Doesn't Give You Chills..It's Like a Horror Film

[robbob]

96. I heard a great radio interview

...forget the name of the book, sorry, but it's author was recounting a very ugly period following the civil war when many southern states (maybe all across the US?) implemented draconian laws intended to basically re-enslave the black population by imposing harsh prison sentences for relatively minor offences.

Loitering on a street corner, being out (and black) after a certain time of night, being unemployed, probably many other examples I can't think off right now; any of these could get you 2-5 years jail time. Then these "criminals" would be rented out to cotton plantations and coal mines to do virtually slave-labour in what would often end up being a life-sentence.

We're often fed the story about how Lincoln "freed the slaves"; how many Americans know about this shameful attempt to re-enslave them through the legal system? And it looks like it's happening all over again.