When a slave has been initially sentenced, or perhaps is a newly-captured rebel soldier, they go off to the state auction house for sale.
Most buyers attending the auction see the slaves on the viewing days in the light, airy “viewing cells” in the showroom - elegantly thin stainless steel bars from floor to ceiling divide up the space and corral the slaves safely so they an be inspected. They probably imagine that the stock is kept in such humane conditions in the stockrooms too, but as this shocking picture reveals, this is not so.
A brave young volunteer from the ASPCS (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Slaves) took this clandestine view of the truly horrendous conditions that most slaves are kept in whilst waiting to be sold - the dark, damp airless passage, the lack of natural light, the monotonous surroundings and lack of view or communication because of the thick walls to the cells and stout doors. He also reported on - but could not photograph - the lack of even basic sanitation, with the slaves needing to urinate and defecate into an open bucket in their cell.
The volunteer was lucky to get this picture out. It’s such bad publicity for the dealer that if he’d been found it’s likely that he would have been thrown in to one of these very salve cells and then the “paperwork” would be “adjusted” to make him an object for sale too!
allbecauseoftheboys
The City Herald - May 24, 2029
The Whistle Blower of the Slaves
We cannot use his real name, so we’ll call him Jack. Jack is staring intently out of his hotel room window between the drawn blinds, despite the fact we’re several stories above ground. “Drones,” he explains, matter-of-factly. He looks exhausted, with dark circles under his eyes and a pallor to his skin. In the three days since his story broke on our website and in print, he’s slept only a handful of hours. Jack received death threats and fled his home in fear for his life and the life of his beloved slave. A friend is watching the place, while he camps out here. She doesn’t know where he is.
It took over an hour of security measures just for Jack to let me into his room. He wants to talk though, because despite yelling himself hoarse from the rooftops in his landmark article about corrupt sub-human conditions in slave sorting facilities, he still has more to say. The papers and news outlets are all jostling for an opinion, but no one can find Jack to put a microphone in his face. We didn’t even know where he was until he called us, and we almost dismissed the call l because we’ve been inundated by other reporters wanting our source’s contact information and some have gotten very clever about it.
Jack said he became interested in slave rights years ago when he was in college. He befriended a professor’s slave who was shy to talk, but eventually opened up about how he came to be in that position and how it wasn’t as bad as he thought. But, he added, he’d been lucky. He’d heard things. Bad things. But what those things were, he wouldn’t say. As a white-washed expat of a ‘Pleasantville’ life, Jack found it hard to believe.
Four years later, Jack was settling into a new job and decided to make the purchase to compliment his new lifestyle. He spent lots of time doing research and as part of that process, contacted freed slaves to get new perspective on ownership. A few slaves told him to be careful. There were places you could buy a slave without question, where they didn’t screen for STDs or perform mental health checks. Paperwork could be fraudulent. Jack through exhaustive lengths to check credentials for the auction house of his choice; this resulted in the ownership of his current slave. The young man is sitting on the floor at Jack’s feet, lovingly leaning against his legs.
Despite that he’d made a purchase, Jack couldn’t stop thinking about the things the other slaves had told him. This is how he ended up joining SPCS (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Slaves). His research background in academia and journalism proved useful in shaping his mission. Initially, Jack collected interviews from victims sold illegally and later freed, but he realized in order for his story to have any merit he’d have to go inside. It took three months to organize. Jack won’t tell us how he did it because he worries a guard will remember him.
"I was horrified beyond horrified, and it was only worsened by the fact that I had to pretend none of it phased me. The smell was horrendous. There were men groaning in cells from beatings. One man was begging for a phone call, that something was wrong and he wasn’t supposed to be there. When I came back to that part of the facility later, he was crying softly. I felt so powerless, until I realized, words can be more powerful than fists."
When asked what he thinks about if slaves deserve those conditions, as some of his opponents believe, Jack doesn’t even pause to answer: “No, absolutely not. We might make slaves out of captured soldiers, criminals, or vagrants, but they’re still humans. Because they’re in shackles doesn’t mean they have different dietary, mental, and physical needs than we do. They’re not animals. How we treat slaves in our country speaks more about our honor than how we win our wars.”
It’s hard to argue with that. Jack reiterates from his article that what frustrates him most is that this is happening under our noses. The slaves kept in these sub-human conditions go on to be auctioned at state approved houses, meaning that a well-meaning buyer could be investing money into illegal, abused property which is fraud in its purest form. Jack also says one thing he left out of his article: Although some well-meaning auction houses do not know this is happening or do not have staff to perform checks of suppliers, Jack highly suspects that some state auction houses might be having private, black market auctions on the side to move illegal property for quick cash without fees.
Their owners are not screened, there is no paperwork, and no justice for abused slaves. Jack says it is easy to find families with missing relatives who were sold after being captured from war but vanished into the system. Three years ago, a body found buried in a park matched one of these men - sold into slavery, he then disappeared into thin air.
Restless, Jack sighs and shifts in his chair. “I feel that things are happening. I feel like my article is going to change things. I feel like it’s going to help some slaves, but part of me knows that the criminals who have grown fat on the money and abuse of power are just going to go deeper underground and continue to hurt slaves that will be harder to rescue.”
When prompted on the hotly debated question on the legality of slavery, Jack balks. He says he understands the usefulness it has on our society, but sometimes struggles with the issue of human rights. To my surprise, Jack tells me to ask his slave this question.
The man looks a bit nervous to be asked questions directly and keeps looking at Jack, who puts a hand on his shoulder to assure him. After a long moment of silence and fussing with his collar, the slave delicately says that the process of being sold was frightening. He ended up in the system as punishment for theft and vandalism that on one occasion nearly resulted in the fatality of a homeowner. The slave looks ashamed to tell me this. “You have to understand, Ma’am, I came from a poor family. There were no prospects. Scrapping copper was more useful to my family than reading Poe. I was so angry at my sentence, but it was beneficial. I’m healthier, I get to eat regularly, sleep somewhere clean. Master Jack has taught me discipline and patience that I will use when my sentence is over. I know of slaves that are not cut out for this life and suffer from it, but I’m grateful to Master Jack for caring about me… cause no one really used to.”
Jack squeezes his slave shoulder and smiles, the first time I have ever seen him do so.
-Ed. note: Three days before we publish this article, bills promoting a new regulatory committee to monitor the legitimacy of slave suppliers ascends to the Senate. Additional bills request federal funds to establish an anonymous hotline to report abuse; funds to train police and federal investigative officers on how to recognize and handle these crimes; and funds for rehabilitation of illegally kidnapped slaves. The media has taken to calling the lot “Jack Laws”. Jack says he would prefer they be named after the slave he heard sobbing in his cell, if only he knew who he was.
THE REALITY OF SLAVE LIFE
When a slave has been initially sentenced, or perhaps is a newly-captured rebel soldier, they go off to the state auction house for sale.
Most buyers attending the auction see the slaves on the viewing days in the light, airy “viewing cells” in the showroom - elegantly thin stainless steel bars from floor to ceiling divide up the space and corral the slaves safely so they an be inspected. They probably imagine that the stock is kept in such humane conditions in the stockrooms too, but as this shocking picture reveals, this is not so.
A brave young volunteer from the ASPCS (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Slaves) took this clandestine view of the truly horrendous conditions that most slaves are kept in whilst waiting to be sold - the dark, damp airless passage, the lack of natural light, the monotonous surroundings and lack of view or communication because of the thick walls to the cells and stout doors. He also reported on - but could not photograph - the lack of even basic sanitation, with the slaves needing to urinate and defecate into an open bucket in their cell.
The volunteer was lucky to get this picture out. It’s such bad publicity for the dealer that if he’d been found it’s likely that he would have been thrown in to one of these very salve cells and then the “paperwork” would be “adjusted” to make him an object for sale too!
allbecauseoftheboys
The City Herald - May 24, 2029
The Whistle Blower of the Slaves
We cannot use his real name, so we’ll call him Jack. Jack is staring intently out of his hotel room window between the drawn blinds, despite the fact we’re several stories above ground. “Drones,” he explains, matter-of-factly. He looks exhausted, with dark circles under his eyes and a pallor to his skin. In the three days since his story broke on our website and in print, he’s slept only a handful of hours. Jack received death threats and fled his home in fear for his life and the life of his beloved slave. A friend is watching the place, while he camps out here. She doesn’t know where he is.
It took over an hour of security measures just for Jack to let me into his room. He wants to talk though, because despite yelling himself hoarse from the rooftops in his landmark article about corrupt sub-human conditions in slave sorting facilities, he still has more to say. The papers and news outlets are all jostling for an opinion, but no one can find Jack to put a microphone in his face. We didn’t even know where he was until he called us, and we almost dismissed the call l because we’ve been inundated by other reporters wanting our source’s contact information and some have gotten very clever about it.
Jack said he became interested in slave rights years ago when he was in college. He befriended a professor’s slave who was shy to talk, but eventually opened up about how he came to be in that position and how it wasn’t as bad as he thought. But, he added, he’d been lucky. He’d heard things. Bad things. But what those things were, he wouldn’t say. As a white-washed expat of a ‘Pleasantville’ life, Jack found it hard to believe.
Four years later, Jack was settling into a new job and decided to make the purchase to compliment his new lifestyle. He spent lots of time doing research and as part of that process, contacted freed slaves to get new perspective on ownership. A few slaves told him to be careful. There were places you could buy a slave without question, where they didn’t screen for STDs or perform mental health checks. Paperwork could be fraudulent. Jack through exhaustive lengths to check credentials for the auction house of his choice; this resulted in the ownership of his current slave. The young man is sitting on the floor at Jack’s feet, lovingly leaning against his legs.
Despite that he’d made a purchase, Jack couldn’t stop thinking about the things the other slaves had told him. This is how he ended up joining SPCS (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Slaves). His research background in academia and journalism proved useful in shaping his mission. Initially, Jack collected interviews from victims sold illegally and later freed, but he realized in order for his story to have any merit he’d have to go inside. It took three months to organize. Jack won’t tell us how he did it because he worries a guard will remember him.
"I was horrified beyond horrified, and it was only worsened by the fact that I had to pretend none of it phased me. The smell was horrendous. There were men groaning in cells from beatings. One man was begging for a phone call, that something was wrong and he wasn’t supposed to be there. When I came back to that part of the facility later, he was crying softly. I felt so powerless, until I realized, words can be more powerful than fists."
When asked what he thinks about if slaves deserve those conditions, as some of his opponents believe, Jack doesn’t even pause to answer: “No, absolutely not. We might make slaves out of captured soldiers, criminals, or vagrants, but they’re still humans. Because they’re in shackles doesn’t mean they have different dietary, mental, and physical needs than we do. They’re not animals. How we treat slaves in our country speaks more about our honor than how we win our wars.”
It’s hard to argue with that. Jack reiterates from his article that what frustrates him most is that this is happening under our noses. The slaves kept in these sub-human conditions go on to be auctioned at state approved houses, meaning that a well-meaning buyer could be investing money into illegal, abused property which is fraud in its purest form. Jack also says one thing he left out of his article: Although some well-meaning auction houses do not know this is happening or do not have staff to perform checks of suppliers, Jack highly suspects that some state auction houses might be having private, black market auctions on the side to move illegal property for quick cash without fees.
Their owners are not screened, there is no paperwork, and no justice for abused slaves. Jack says it is easy to find families with missing relatives who were sold after being captured from war but vanished into the system. Three years ago, a body found buried in a park matched one of these men - sold into slavery, he then disappeared into thin air.
Restless, Jack sighs and shifts in his chair. “I feel that things are happening. I feel like my article is going to change things. I feel like it’s going to help some slaves, but part of me knows that the criminals who have grown fat on the money and abuse of power are just going to go deeper underground and continue to hurt slaves that will be harder to rescue.”
When prompted on the hotly debated question on the legality of slavery, Jack balks. He says he understands the usefulness it has on our society, but sometimes struggles with the issue of human rights. To my surprise, Jack tells me to ask his slave this question.
The man looks a bit nervous to be asked questions directly and keeps looking at Jack, who puts a hand on his shoulder to assure him. After a long moment of silence and fussing with his collar, the slave delicately says that the process of being sold was frightening. He ended up in the system as punishment for theft and vandalism that on one occasion nearly resulted in the fatality of a homeowner. The slave looks ashamed to tell me this. “You have to understand, Ma’am, I came from a poor family. There were no prospects. Scrapping copper was more useful to my family than reading Poe. I was so angry at my sentence, but it was beneficial. I’m healthier, I get to eat regularly, sleep somewhere clean. Master Jack has taught me discipline and patience that I will use when my sentence is over. I know of slaves that are not cut out for this life and suffer from it, but I’m grateful to Master Jack for caring about me… cause no one really used to.”
Jack squeezes his slave shoulder and smiles, the first time I have ever seen him do so.
-Ed. note: Three days before we publish this article, bills promoting a new regulatory committee to monitor the legitimacy of slave suppliers ascends to the Senate. Additional bills request federal funds to establish an anonymous hotline to report abuse; funds to train police and federal investigative officers on how to recognize and handle these crimes; and funds for rehabilitation of illegally kidnapped slaves. The media has taken to calling the lot “Jack Laws”. Jack says he would prefer they be named after the slave he heard sobbing in his cell, if only he knew who he was.
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Text is fictional, obviously. Thought I’d try something new. Source unknown