One year ago, the Supreme Court of the U. S. (SCOTUS) overturned Roe v. Wade with the Dobbs decision, thereby denying the autonomy of American women by proclaiming the state’s right to control their wombs. Coupled with this are efforts by some to build a border fence to keep immigrants out and to corral America’s forced breeding population, relax child labor laws, ban books, and prohibit the teaching of the unpleasant aspects of American history. These draconian measures seek to provide a steady stream of undereducated wage slave consumers without pensions or health care.
Surprise! This is not a new phenomenon in the “Land of the Free.” Now for some of that unpleasant American history.
In 1808 the importation of African chattel slaves into the United States became illegal. Yet, the demand for slave labor continued to increase. The solution was to create “breeding opportunities” for young African American women, with slaves fathered by a white man having increased profits at the auction block. Many white “evangelical” plantation owners opted to cut out the middleman and do the breeding themselves. After all, copulation with “livestock” was not considered to be adultery or rape.
When this vile system of capitalism collapsed following the Civil War, attempts by America’s wage slaves to organize into labor unions were met with violence. Despite the opposition’s use of clubs, bullets, and bayonets, these brave workers acquired an eight-hour workday, a 40-hour work week, and an end to child labor.
Fast forward to today. Recent SCOTUS decisions have rolled back the right to vote, rescinded a woman’s autonomy and the poor’s road to a higher education (affirmative action and student loan relief). Americans will not need to vote, nor read nor write, in a fenced-in America where women are compelled to breed the wage slaves needed to toil their lives away to increase the wealth of the 1 percent.
Wake up, America! This does not have to be our future! If you are not prepared to live off “the crumbs that fall from the master’s table,” organize, register, and vote!
Stephen Siemsen
Orcutt
This article appears in Jul 27 – Aug 6, 2023.