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

"Hawaii is not a state and that therefore my statement about the current flag being not a symbol of slavery is false...even if it wasn't the flag still wouldn't be the same, as Alaska was granted statehood"The addition of Alaska made 50 states, so,without Hawaii it would be (is) 49. Hawaii's lawful status is in question to this day. Until 1959 there were 48 states in America, but the admission of Alaska and Hawaii that year brought the number to 50. [1] However, as stated, this is a periphery point which I never connected to the flag being a symbol of slavery. "The U.S. was not founded upon "chattel slavery.""The truth is yes, while the fathers of our nation were writing our Constitution and fighting for our liberty, they did, in fact, have hundreds of human beings that were listed in their account books as personal property and worked for them as slaves. George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Patrick Henry were all slave-owners. [2]When the last remaining Founders died in the 1830s, they left behind an ambiguous legacy with regard to slavery. They had succeeded in gradually abolishing slavery in the Northern states and Northwestern territories but permitted its rapid expansion in the South and Southwest. Although they eventually enacted a federal ban on the importation of foreign slaves in 1808, the enslaved population continued to expand through natural reproduction, while the growing internal domestic slave trade led to an increase in the tragic breakup of enslaved families. [3]"...it was economic self-interest and not moral convictions that ultimately led to the abolition of slavery. It was only after slavery came to be regarded as an impediment to industrial progress that abolitionists in Europe and the United States succeeded in suppressing the slave trade and abolishing slavery." [4]"Slavery obviously stains "the immaculate conception of America" preached by Bachmann and other Constitutional originalists,.."So if your vision is to return the U.S. to the 1770s, you have to find a way to argue that slavery was not inherent in the Founding." [5]It is extremely duplicitous to marginalize the existence of slavery during the founding of the U.S. in attempts to downsize the negative effects it has wrought in the modern era and paint the founding fathers as a group of dignified men who considered the best interests of the slaves. The valuation of slaves as property is what lies at the heart of much of the racist sentiment that plagues the U.S. to this day. "The Union, flying what is now the American flag, was not built on chattel slavery."This Union, that my opponent alludes to, was not built in a vaccuum. It is validated or invalidated by its actions. Those who attempt to act as if the 'peculiar' institution of slavery had no effect on the racist environment that exists in the U.S. are living in denial. It is not like mistreatment of melaninated people was ended upon the abolition of slavery. Slavery was an accepted practice in both the Northern and Southern states during the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. There are still officers killing and harassing melaninated peoples as overseers did during the times of chattel slavery. "My opponent compares prison labor to chattel slavery which is irrelevant. I suppose community service is "forced labor" too?"As illustrated, prison labor has direct ties to chattel slavery. It was and is a way to force labor upon a disproportionately melaninated group of people that are disenfranchised. While my opponent views it as irrelevant, I am sure there are many who will disagree. "The expanding use of prison industries, which pay slave wages, as a way to increase profits for giant military corporations, is a frontal attack on the rights of all workers...the fact that the capitalist state has found yet another way to drastically undercut union workers’ wages and ensure still higher profits to military corporations...is an ominous development...the defense sector has been quietly outsourcing production (and jobs) to cheaper labor markets overseas.”..with prison labor, these jobs are also being outsourced domestically...Prisoners there worked covered in dust, without safety equipment, protective gear, air filtration or masks...There are now more African-American men in prison, on probation or on parole than were enslaved in 1850, before the Civil War began..a staggering 1-in-100 adults in the U.S. are living behind bars. But this crime, which breaks families and destroys lives, is not evenly distributed. In major urban areas one-half of Black men have criminal records. This means life-long, legalized discrimination in student loans, financial assistance, access to public housing, mortgages, the right to vote and, of course, the possibility of being hired for a job...Major corporations profiting from the slave labor of prisoners include Motorola, Compaq, Honeywell, Microsoft, Boeing, Revlon, Chevron, TWA, Victoria’s Secret and Eddie Bauer...prisoners who refuse to work are moved to disciplinary housing and lose canteen privileges as well as “good time” credit..Systematic abuse, beatings, prolonged isolation and sensory deprivation, and lack of medical care make U.S. prison conditions among the worst in the world..working under grueling conditions for pennies an hour is treated as a “perk” for good behavior...The prison-industrial complex..a greater source of profit and..reinforced by the climate of racism and reaction."[6]. In my opinion, these conditions are not that different from post chattel slavery imprisonment or the Gulag system mentioned by my opponent. "The Jim Crow laws..have anything to do with slavery."Ridiculous. The Jim Crow laws were enforced in the North and the South. "..the North was not so much unlike the South when it came to racial attitudes; the North simply used more subtle ways to enforce the separation of the races. As a southerner once told me, "racism is just tacit in the North. It doesn't mean it doesn't exist." Jim Crow Moves North should be used in any African American history course, if nothing else to show that racism was not simply the South's problem, but the nation's problem."[7]"Seychelles has 868 prisoners per 100,000 as of June 2014[7], the US had 707."My opponent has pointed out that the U.S. has the second highest inarceration for 2014. I am sure the founding fathers would be proud. We only got the silver medal, we usually grab the gold."This is not slavery. If someone spends..."More accurately, this is not chattel slavery. As mentioned, there are various forms of slavery."How does a flag make you spend more than you earn?"This was a connection to a form of slavery in the U.S. which is represented by the flag."This is "currency", a form of compensation"Actually, the currency my opponent refers to is actually a debt note owed. Also, as slavery can also be an addiction to an influence, the dependence on money can be viewed as slavery." We get payed interest.."If my opponent reads the passage carefully, he will notice it is referring to money lent an not money saved. RIF"Currency changes value and the government tries to manage it to the best of their ability."Actually, inflation is regulated by private central bankers who lend to the Fed. "This is called "Consent of the Governed"Shouldn’t people willingly and voluntarily choose their own government no matter where they live? Isn’t that what is meant by consent of the governed? [8]"..claims that people who have college debt are also slaves, but fails to support this claim.."As stated, there are different forms of slavery.[9] Bonded labor or debt labor describes slavery in which an individual is compelled to work in order to repay a debt.""all men are created equal" is not practiced in the U.S."If all men are created equal were practiced would schools, housing, and education be segregated or racially biased? Would classism exist?"The rights that were "curtailed" were never mentioned.."Stop and frisk, redlining, allowances for unreasonable search and seizures and the library provision of the Patriot Act - all of these policies involve curtailed liberties."child slavery and domestic servitude"Factories in Bangladesh, Haiti, Cambodia and elsewhere that make uniforms for federal workers often violate basic labor standards. [10]The U.S. and Confederate flags are symbols of slavery. Mentioning the flying of the flag in SC is an attempt to distract the mass' attention away from the institutional and systemc racism that plagues the U.S.. While concessions for internment were made to the Japanese mistreated during WWII, reparations for slavery have yet to be addressed.[11]The Emancipation Proclamation did not end slavery in the US.. In fact, emancipation etymologically refers to a transfer of ownership.I thank my opponent for participating. http://www.buzzle.com... [1]http://www.revolutionary-war.net... [2]http://www.britannica.com... [3]http://www.gilderlehrman.org... [4]http://theweek.com... [5]http://www.globalresearch.ca... [6]http://www.h-net.org... [7]http://www.loc.gov... [8]http://www.nationofchange.org... [9]http://www.nytimes.com... [10]http://www.democracynow.org... [11]