Art & Society

For those who think slavery in the United States ended with the Emancipation Proclamation, think again.

While the notion of a man having several wives may sound like the stuff that sitcoms are made of, these religious polygamous communities brainwash and enslave women, especially, by marrying off teenage girls to old men. Some of these women end up marrying and reproducing with their fathers, grandfathers or uncles which leads to deformed and stillborn births.

Today, I dedicate my blog to an unnamed 16-year-old girl who was raped and beaten by her 50-year-old husband and had the courage to call law enforcement officials who have raided the cult community and taken countless women and children into protective custody. My guess is that many of these brainwashed women and children are confused and have mixed feelings about their newfound freedom. This kind of raising of women to be child-bearers and servants to the men is more than sexual abuse or brainwashing, it is slavery.

I hope that this event will bring to light something uglier than steroids used in baseball, something uglier than Eliot Spitzer's call girls; slavery is alive and most unwell in America.

For more information read Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer.