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How Popular Brands Capitalize on Slavery Loophole for Profit

Some brands see “involuntary servitdue” as a golden opportunity

Half eaten french fries from McDonald’s | Photo by Majo Pestaña via Pexels

“When you work as a firefighter, they promise to reduce your time behind bars. They dangle that freedom in front of you like a carrot on a stick; they bend your will to theirs.’” — Anonymous, incarcerated in Californi

Earlier this week, many Americans were shocked to learn that thirty percent of Los Angeles fires were fought by inmates. However, since a loophole in the 13th Amendment permits “involuntary servitude” for those convicted of a crime, inmates are particularly vulnerable to exploitation. One example of this would be convict leasing agreements, that allowed companies to profit from predominantly Black. Sadly, many popular brands have continued this tradition in the modern era, capitalizing off the "slavery loophole" for profit. It's disturbing how ubiquitous prison labor has become. Consumers are often unaware of how the sausage is made, so to speak. And this ambiguity preserves the company's reputation. In the early days, people knew sugar and cotton were direct products of slave labor. Now, folks are not so sure.

While working as a server at Oceana, a high-volume French Quarter restaurant in my twenties, I discovered dozens of kitchen…