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Two stories bring to mind the continuing scourge of chattel slavery.
It’s vital to note that while Britain, America and Western Europe eradicated chattel slavery over a century and a half ago, it STILL remains the rule, rather than the exception in most places around the world...and all too often, in the hearts of men.
In the Arab Mideast, in large tracts of Asia and throughout sub-Saharan Africa, chattel slavery is alive and well TODAY.
According to the Associated Press, Lassissi Afolabi, a man from the West African nation of Togo has confessed his role in the smuggling of dozens of young women who were forced to work at hair braiding salons in New Jersey (one of the salons is pictured above).
Mr. Afolabi pled guilty Wednesday in federal court to conspiring with his ex-wife and others to commit forced labor and related crimes in Newark and East Orange, where he lived.
Mr. Afolabi has been held without bail since his arrest in September 2007.
Prosecutors claim that between October 2002 and September 2007 at least 20 young women were taken from Togo using fraudulent visas and brought to Newark, NJ, where the girls were forced to work six or seven days a week and to turn over all of their earnings to the defendants.
AND this from the bowels of California, where Phillip Garrido and his wife, Nancy (both pictured above), were arrested after the bizarre abduction and forced imprisonment (sexual slavery) of Jaycee Lee Dugard, when she was just eleven years old.
Garrido, held Ms. Dugard prisoner, hiding her in various tents in his large backyard. He impregnated Jaycee Dugard when she was barely fourteen y/o.
Jaycee Dugard was freed after the arrest of the Garrido’s. She is now 29 and the mother of two children, by the pedophile, Phillip Garrido.
According to the AP, Phillip and Nancy Garrido are in jail, suspected of abducting Dugard 18 years ago and subjecting her to nearly a lifetime of torment in a squalid backyard compound. They pleaded not guilty Friday to a total of 29 counts, including forcible abduction, rape and false imprisonment.
Saturday, three police agencies on Saturday searched the Garrido’s home to see if there is evidence linking him to other open cases in the area, including the unsolved murders of prostitutes.
The invest igations are "preliminary," said Jimmy Lee, a spokesman for the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Department, east of San Francisco Bay. He declined to discuss what cases were being reviewed. My ONLY question is, "Why did they take these two ALIVE?"
Both these cases highlight the depths of human depravity.
And it SHOULD serve as an instructive lesson to those obsessed with American and Western Europe’s shameful role in the practice of chattel slavery. America and Western Europe eradicated that practice OVER a century ago, while it’s still going strong in many regions around the world, including, ironically enough, in sub-Saharan Africa!
It’s vital to note that while Britain, America and Western Europe eradicated chattel slavery over a century and a half ago, it STILL remains the rule, rather than the exception in most places around the world...and all too often, in the hearts of men.
In the Arab Mideast, in large tracts of Asia and throughout sub-Saharan Africa, chattel slavery is alive and well TODAY.
According to the Associated Press, Lassissi Afolabi, a man from the West African nation of Togo has confessed his role in the smuggling of dozens of young women who were forced to work at hair braiding salons in New Jersey (one of the salons is pictured above).
Mr. Afolabi pled guilty Wednesday in federal court to conspiring with his ex-wife and others to commit forced labor and related crimes in Newark and East Orange, where he lived.
Mr. Afolabi has been held without bail since his arrest in September 2007.
Prosecutors claim that between October 2002 and September 2007 at least 20 young women were taken from Togo using fraudulent visas and brought to Newark, NJ, where the girls were forced to work six or seven days a week and to turn over all of their earnings to the defendants.
AND this from the bowels of California, where Phillip Garrido and his wife, Nancy (both pictured above), were arrested after the bizarre abduction and forced imprisonment (sexual slavery) of Jaycee Lee Dugard, when she was just eleven years old.
Garrido, held Ms. Dugard prisoner, hiding her in various tents in his large backyard. He impregnated Jaycee Dugard when she was barely fourteen y/o.
Jaycee Dugard was freed after the arrest of the Garrido’s. She is now 29 and the mother of two children, by the pedophile, Phillip Garrido.
According to the AP, Phillip and Nancy Garrido are in jail, suspected of abducting Dugard 18 years ago and subjecting her to nearly a lifetime of torment in a squalid backyard compound. They pleaded not guilty Friday to a total of 29 counts, including forcible abduction, rape and false imprisonment.
Saturday, three police agencies on Saturday searched the Garrido’s home to see if there is evidence linking him to other open cases in the area, including the unsolved murders of prostitutes.
The invest igations are "preliminary," said Jimmy Lee, a spokesman for the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Department, east of San Francisco Bay. He declined to discuss what cases were being reviewed. My ONLY question is, "Why did they take these two ALIVE?"
Both these cases highlight the depths of human depravity.
And it SHOULD serve as an instructive lesson to those obsessed with American and Western Europe’s shameful role in the practice of chattel slavery. America and Western Europe eradicated that practice OVER a century ago, while it’s still going strong in many regions around the world, including, ironically enough, in sub-Saharan Africa!
