Slavery exists today. Here’s where you’ll find it
Photo: Library of Congress.
When people say slavery ended a long time ago, I want to shake my head. It never really ended. It just put on different clothes.
Today it shows up in the products we buy, in the hidden corners of society, and in the lives of people who are told their worth is less than nothing.
It makes me angry and it breaks my heart.
What makes it slavery
I don’t need chains in front of me to call it slavery. If a person cannot walk away without being crushed by debt, violence, or threats, they are not free. If their work or their body is being used so someone else can profit, that is slavery. If fear is the leash, it is still a leash.
The slavery I see today
I see it in so many ways:
Factories and farms where people sweat for hours to make the cheap things I can pick off a store shelf without a second thought.
Trafficking where women and children are promised safety and jobs but are instead trapped in sexual exploitation they cannot escape.
Debt bondage where a single loan for food or medical bills becomes a life sentence of labor.
Domestic servitude where migrant workers have their passports stolen and are hidden behind closed doors.
Prison labor where people in the United States are pushed to work for pennies, their labor feeding profit for others.
Child labor where kids lose their childhoods, their health, and their futures so that others can save a dollar.
This is not history. This is now.
What we need to do
I cannot just shrug and say it is too big to change. That is how slavery keeps breathing.
I need to admit my own part. The things I buy may have passed through the hands of someone trapped in slavery. That is a hard truth, but ignoring it makes me part of the problem.
We need to demand better from corporations. If they profit from slavery in their supply chains, they should not be able to hide behind glossy marketing.
We need governments to protect the vulnerable instead of punishing them. Migrants, poor families, and children are the ones traffickers target.
We need to care for survivors beyond just rescue. People need healing, education, and a way to start fresh without shame.
We need to start living as if every single person has dignity, because they do.
My reflection
When I think about slavery today, I feel both angry and sad. Angry that systems of greed still exist that crush human lives for profit. Sad that so many of us look away because it feels too heavy. But the truth is that we all play a part.
I have to ask myself: when I grab something cheap and shiny, who actually paid the price for me to have it? If enough of us ask that question and refuse to settle for silence, maybe we can finally end what has been allowed to live for far too long.
Slavery never really went away. But we can choose to fight it, even in the smallest choices we make every day.
