The United States and Confederaflag are both symbols of slavery...

My opponent claims that Hawaii is not a state and that therefore my statement about the current flag being not a symbol of slavery is false. This is blatantly false. Hawaii is legally a state[1] as of August 21st, 1959. Furthermore, even if it wasn't the flag still wouldn't be the same, as Alaska was granted statehood on January 3rd, 1959[2]. Racism exists in every country, and I admit it exists in the U.S. as well. My opponent claims that I rightfully acknowledge the presence of racism in the U.S. but "[refuse] to acknowledge the connection between its existence to the chattel slavery upon which the country was founded." The U.S. was not founded upon "chattel slavery". This is another blatantly false assertion. The U.S. was founded upon contrasting political ideologies to that of Britain, to which the U.S. was formerly a colony[3]. One of the main ideas of this was "Taxation without Representation", a practice of Britain which sparked the Boston Tea Party political protest by the" Sons of Liberty" in Boston, Massachusetts[4]. The Union, flying what is now the American flag, was not built on chattel slavery. The Confederacy, however, was founded directly on chattel slavery. In fact, the Confederate States of America "was originally formed by seven slave states in the Lower South region of the United States whose regional economy was mostly dependent upon agriculture, particularly cotton, and a plantation system that relied upon slave labor"[5]. The Confederacy "relied on slave labor" whereas the Union fought to abolish the practice completely. My opponent compares prison labor to chattel slavery which is irrelevant. I suppose community service is "forced labor" too? Being punished for a crime is different than chattel slavery. The "Gulag" system in the USSR is a far more accurate depiction of what my opponent claims[6] The Jim Crow laws were terrible and abolished by the Union. However, that does not have anything to do with slavery. My opponent claims that "'no other society in human history has imprisoned so many of its own citizens'", another statement that is false. Seychelles has 868 prisoners per 100,000 as of June 2014[7], the US had 707. We do not have the highest incarceration rate, that is simply false. The U.S. does not stand for slavery. The U.S. does not have the highest incarceration rate and furthermore does not seek to arrest as many people as possible to support forced labor. Next, my opponent addresses "Debt Slavery" in saying "You are a debt slave. Don"t believe it? 43% of all American families spend more than they earn each year." This is not slavery. If someone spends more than they earn the American flag most certainly cannot be held accountable. How does a flag make you spend more than you earn? In an attempt to justify this he claims "[b]y participating in a system that arbitrarily determines wealth based on how many pieces of paper one has, the paper, which, in and of itself has no real value, you are either deemed "wealthy" or "poor." How is this possible?" This is "currency", a form of compensation used in all civilizations in the world[8]. This has no correlation to slavery whatsoever. My opponent makes many further claims about how having currency relates to slavery: "You pay a central banking system "interest" based on the pieces of paper they dole out to you or take from you at their own personal discretion." This is false, again. It also doesn't relate to slavery at all. We get payed interest for keeping our money in a bank, where banks can loan it out and collect interest from others while paying us interest as well[9]. Banks are a business, as you should know. "Your paper can lose value at the whim of this institution, yet you, yourself do not lose value " your goods, your services, your knowledge." This also doesn't relate to slavery. This is called inflation and deflation[10]. Currency changes value and the government tries to manage it to the best of their ability. "You can be taxed on your earnings, but to fund what? And with what legality?" This is called "Consent of the Governed"[11] and is not illegal. It funds the government so they can fund public schools, public transportation, the military, and pay policemen and other government workers. Again, not a form of slavery. This is a large example of how my opponent uses the red herring fallacy to divert attention from the topic being discussed. My opponent next claims that people who have college debt are also slaves, but fails to support this claim as "[g]oing to college may still be the best time of a person"s life, but millions of students and their families are doomed to a life as student loan debt slaves" is his only assertion without any evidence. College debt is not forced upon anyone. If you cannot afford to pay for something, it is in your best interest not to purchase it. This also does not correlate with slavery. Next, my opponent discusses the Charleston shooting and the relevancy of the Confederate flag. While "the shooter did not mention the flying of the flag as a motivation for the shooting", as my opponent said, he did pose online holding the confederate flag and burning the US flag. The US flag stands for the idea that "every man is created equal" while the confederate flag supports a former country who "relied on slave labor". My opponent also claims in that paragraph that "all men are created equal" is not practiced in the U.S. because "[s]ince 911 these rights have been curtailed and these rights have always been jeopardized in regard to melaninated people in the U.S.." This is another red herring fallacy. The rights that were "curtailed" were never mentioned and there is no evidence to support this claim. Lastly, my opponent bring up the topic of "child slavery and domestic servitude". This is an important issue, however the argument is slightly misleading. I read the source provided by my opponent and none of the slave labor occurs in the U.S.. It occurs in countries from which the companies listed by my opponent have purchased products. When confronted about it, most of the companies are "looking into the situations and would never deliberately buy products that were being made by children". [1] http://www.history.com... [2] https://history.state.gov... [3] http://www.archives.gov... [4] https://en.wikipedia.org... [5] https://en.wikipedia.org... [6] https://en.wikipedia.org... [7] http://www.statista.com... [8] http://www.investopedia.com... [9] http://www.themint.org... [10] http://www.investopedia.com... [11] http://www.loc.gov...