A Blight On The Nation Slavery In Today's America Summary

In the article “A Blight on the Nation: Slavery in Today's America” by Ron Soodalter, the contents outline that the common concept of slavery not existing is, in fact, fictitious. Soodalter highlights, that to most Americans’ common knowledge, that centuries ago the South had slaves, and the North fought a war for the liberation of all slaves. At the end of the Civil War, Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation freed all the slaves in the South, and then later the 13th amendment fully abolished slavery and enforced servitude throughout the United States. However, as we kept our blind eyes turned, slavery has been allowed to blossom out of control, regardless of its illegality around the world. Soodalter states, “With an estimated 27 million people
Many of us will contribute this steep number of those in bondage due in part to third world countries, emerging nations, and refugees. Yet, slavery exists in the more established countries such as France, Spain, Greece, China, and Italy. Among that lengthy list of countries lies the United States, and yet most of us are clueless to its existence. Soodalter presents that fact that slavery has existed since the discovery of the “New World” by Christopher Columbus, and has continued beyond the Civil War into the Civil Rights Era and right into the present day. With the global population increasing every year and the collapse of national borders around the world, people in desperation to survive have become obvious targets for human traffickers. In their search for sanctuary, United States has become a prime destination. “According to a U.S. State Department study, some 14,500 to 17,500 foreign nationals are trafficked into the United States from at least 35 countries and enslaved each