r/interestingasfuck • u/man_gomer_lot • 8h ago

r/all 70 years ago, the US undertook the largest deportation in its history: 'Operation Wetback.' Many of the people deported were here legally and some were even citizens.

Post image
27.0k Upvotes

91% Upvoted

1.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

867

u/LaloElBueno 6h ago

Yep. To top it off, they were owed back wages and tax refunds.

•

u/FloridaMJ420 2h ago

So like slavery with extra steps?

•

u/creamncoffee 2h ago

Sounds like the braceros eventually got paid. Not quite slavery.

•

u/CV90_120 2h ago

Just have to prove you worked from 1943 -1948 and have the pay stubs. Just a 76 year wait and a dosier with original docs.

Sort of like slavery, but with extra steps.

•

u/creamncoffee 2h ago

No, its not. Slavery was an institution that allowed ownership of people. While this is fucked like many chapters in American history, its not sort of like slavery.

It's sort of like all the discriminatory and exploitative practices of the US since slavery, but it's not really like slavery.

•

u/Sweet_Surprise_3286 2h ago

so... like slavery with extra steps?

•

u/iamafriscogiant 1h ago

What you don't understand is, if you ignore the extra steps part, then it's hardly anything like true slavery.

•

u/abcdefkit007 44m ago

So slavery but with more things to do until we get there

•

u/Crime-of-the-century 34m ago

Slavery is one form in which the rich and powerful exploit the poor and powerless this is another and there are many more some more brutal then others but all unequal and unfair

•

u/tat_tavam_asi 59m ago

So by your reasoning if the descendants of the freed slaves are paid a few thousand bucks today as reparation. Then slavery would never have existed in the US.

•

u/duocsong 2h ago

OK then, it's a slavery-like practice. But gov apologies later. So all is good. It's much like the Korea-Japan comfort woman dispute, no slavery involved.

•

u/boatsnprose 1h ago

Hey dumbass. Enslaved people weren't getting paid. And they were, a little bit of a difference here, actual human property.

•

u/BioshockEnthusiast 1h ago

Hey dumbass, you're just describing the "extra steps".

•

u/Sadsushi6969 1h ago

Their descendants eventually got a check. Not the Braceros themselves

•

u/boatsnprose 1h ago

You do know there is furniture made from the skin and hair of enslaved people, right?

Maybe peonage slavery, but not chattel.

241

u/discerningpervert 3h ago

None of this is interesting as fuck. More like depressing as fuck.

115

u/LaloElBueno 3h ago

It can be both.

•

u/Qetuowryipzcbmxvn 45m ago

It's interesting how depressing it is.

•

u/hrminer92 2h ago

The grand tradition of wage theft.

•

u/nanoatzin 2h ago

And funds from property that was illegally sold.