Labor camp owners guilty of enslaving workers

We sometimes think of slavery as disappearing. But in a recent article the Presbyterian Church wrote about another example here in the USA.

LOUISVILLE * Three years after a group of Presbyterian
Church (U.S.A.)-backed farmworkers tipped authorities to
alleged wrongdoing, the owners of two migrant labor camps
were found guilty in federal court of luring drug addicts
and homeless people into indentured servitude by forcing
them to work off debts from the purchase of crack cocaine,
cigarettes and beer.

There's an old song about 'owe my soul to the company store'. And while we have many laws on the books, we must be vigilant in the enforcement. Treating someone as property is not right. Using the addictions of another to enslave someone further is not right. And we, who call ourselves Christian, are called to do better. We need to speak out against abuses at home and abroad.

We are stewards of the earth. We are our brother's keeper. We have been adopted with our brothers and sisters from around the world as children of God. We are called to do better than this. Whether it si a news story about camp owners acting in a very human fashion and mistreating other human beings or the person living next door, the stories from scripture make it clear that we are neighbors, brothers and sisters, and children of God. We should do better.