In Frederick Douglass: An American Slave, Frederick was constantly moved around as a slave. He soon was moved into a house with a pleasant women as his master. In the beginning she didn’t know how to treat a slave so she was pleasantly nice to Douglass. This was just like how the workers were treated in the china sweatshops in the beginning. The workers at the sweatshops were at least treated somewhat decently but as Apple started growing and more people learned of the brand “Apple” the sweatshops became more painful to work in. They were overworked and overly exhausted. Just like how Frederick was treated nicely by Master Hughes wife at first and then right after things took a change, he was treated harshly, his master took advantage of him and became the living spawn of satan. Fredrick stated, “That cheerful eye, under the influence of slavery, soon became red with rage…that angelic face gave place to that of a demon.” In Frederick’s case he was constantly beaten for all the things he had done wrong, the only thing that was good about this one master was that she taught him how to read and write for a while.
The apple sweatshop workers were just overly worked so they were never really awake. Reporters reported that while documenting the workers working there 12 hour shift they were constantly falling asleep. Workers said, “Every time I got back to the dormitories, I wouldn’t want to move.” The workers also said that even during there break time or sleeping hours they could barely fall asleep because of all the things on their mind, especially with all the stress on there mind. We need to do something about this. Modern slavery is just as bad as slavery was in the past. they are still treated the same. They are under a lot of stress, they work more then half the day non stop. In past slavery they didn’t even get paid and also had to work about the same hour. Yet both are treated terribly. No one should live like this.
Apple has lied to our faces by saying, “Workers safety and well-being are our top priorities.” yeah sure, as if anyone would believe that now.
I know that this sounds completely idiotic of me but I actually believed that slavery didn’t exist anymore. I thought that everyone was living perfectly fine. It is true when they say that ignorance is bliss. Now everyday i worry for these people, I look around my house and look at the things I own and realize that people slaved for hours to make these products yet they are barely payed. Like an iPhone for example. We pay $900 for an iPhone when these people get like $4 an hour. They should get paid more if we have to pay this much for our products. They should be more highly appreciated by who they work for. Sweatshops need to stop, we can’t have people who were born into poverty to make all of our products. We literally live on top of these people. It makes me appreciate my life a lot more. I now realize how unfortunate other people are, and I shouldn’t complain about everything. I have so much to be thankful for when they have nothing. So modern slavery and past slavery are very similar, and something needs to be done about all of this.
Positively Being Me 