Wars have been waged, generations have been lost, and billions of dollars have been made, all because of an economic and social system are known as the “peculiar institution” here in the U.S. that has been with humanity since its beginnings. That system is slavery. Many think slavery is a thing of the past, relegated to old textbooks, allowed only to exist as faint memories, and only brought into the light in remembrance and celebration of an annual holiday or when an atrocity occurs. Never fully acknowledged, but never fully forgotten, either. So is the status of slavery, its victims, and their descendants the world over? It’s beyond upsetting to note that almost every nation on this planet has, at one time or another, initiated, participated in, or even legally sanctioned this heinous act.

In recent years, the word slavery has acquired more historical and political baggage, while its definition has become more malleable, being applied to everything from plantation style chattel slavery to its modern equivalents of sex rings, sweat shops, and prison camps. There are more slaves alive today than there’ve been at any other time in human history. Now is the time for people to wake up and realize that slavery is no longer an antiquated or third world institution: it’s in your own back yard.

In Northern Africa, where the Sahara Desert meets the Atlantic Ocean, lies Mauritania, a country of 3.5 million, with the esteemed privilege of being the last nation in the world to abolish slavery. In 1981, Mauritania legally abolished slavery, though they didn’t criminalize it until 2007, with the law rarely being enforced. One may say, “better late than never.” Though in effect, slavery might as well have never been abolished or criminalized, for in this ancient land, the millenniums-old system has become an inseparable part of history, mentality, race, and religion. Up to 20 percent of Mauritania’s population is enslaved, primarily Sub-Saharan Black Africans. Iron chains are not needed to prevent their escape and remind them of their forced subservience. The iron has been replaced with mental and psychological chains, creating an almost childlike dependence between the slave and their master.

Two of the most visible forms of economic slavery can be seen through sweatshop workers and prisoners. Both groups produce many of the modern conveniences and pleasures we in the industrialized world have come to enjoy and even expect. From AT&T and Whole Foods, to H&M and Starbucks, all are guilty of using prison and sweatshop labor. In return for their hard, dedicated work, many prisoners are serving life sentences for crimes they may not have even committed. Sweatshop workers have lost their passports, ties with family members, and a general sense of security. Both have lost their independence, dignity, and their unalienable rights as both citizens of the world, and residents of the First World. Some may say, “They’re prisoners, they gave up their rights when they committed “x” crime.” Or they might add that, “If they didn’t want to work for pennies on the dollar here, they should’ve stayed wherever they came from.” Another might say, “Yes, their predicaments are horrible, at best, but they don’t even compare to slavery.” I’ll remind those that the term for free, indefinite, uncompensated labor, has been, is, and will always be slavery. No ifs, and's, or buts. Blaming the victim for participating in, and falling prey to the many traps of our modern economic and social caste systems, when the system was never designed to acknowledge or protect them in the first place, is apathetic, arrogant, and corrosive to the democratic ideals many of us pay only lip service to.

It is a cruel, beautiful lie, to say that we as a species have evolved beyond such a deplorable ideology. Will we continue to profit off of each other’s pain and misery, refusing to extend our sympathy and empathy to those harmed by our own meaningless consumption in the names of modernity and economic progress, or will we recognize that all human beings, regardless of past transgressions against themselves or others, regardless of national origin, regardless of gender, race, and religion, are guaranteed, “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” for as long as they shall live? Hopefully we’ll choose the latter, though the world has a long, illustrious history of proving otherwise.