4

Segregation In Schools Didn't End Until 2016 -- And They're Still Fighting For It

Ask any high school student about segregation, and they'll tell you it was institutionally sanctioned racism -- "separate but equal." Was. Everybody knows it's over ...

In the north.

Ask that same question in a place like Mississippi, and the answer might be different. Because the last time a judge had to bitch-slap a Mississippi school over blatant racial segregation was in May of freaking 2016. In many places, the end of segregation was gently encouraged by the presence of the National Guard. However, they couldn't be everywhere at the same time. The school district of Cleveland, Mississippi looked around, saw no National Guard troops, and figured "We'll ride this racism thing to the end of the line. See where it goes."

The Wall Street JournalThis image is not from the 1916 edition of The Wall Street Journal.

3

Sweatshops Still Operate All Across America

Sweatshop labor isn't restricted to Asia. It's a worldwide problem, operating in exotic locales like ... Los Angeles?

David McNew/Getty Images"Hey, palm trees are exotic."

In 2015, the California Department of Labor crunched the numbers and found out that the average cost of a shirt manufactured in the state was about $1.90. Which was all fine and dandy, if it wasn't for the fact a shirt should cost the clothing manufacturers about $9 to make, and that's assuming they're only paying their workers minimum wage. The L.A. Garment Worker Center thinks the industry is rife with health, safety, and payment violations, even outright sweatshop conditions, ranging from a lack of drinking water and proper bathrooms to the workers getting locked in their deathtrap factories with no way out.

Here's a series of testimonials from Hispanic workers about the conditions they faced working for various L.A. sweatshops that make clothes for Forever 21:

2

Current Voter ID Laws Are Worse Than Old Poll Taxes

This last election was rife with news stories about voter ID laws. Essentially, a bunch of states recently started passing laws mandating that some folks (generally minorities) show valid forms of photo ID before they'd be allowed to vote, in order to combat fraud at the polls.

How is that bad?

It sounds like a common-sense response to a very real threat. Back in the day, they made it really difficult for minorities to vote -- like the poll tax, the prerequisite voting payment straight from the heyday of Jim Crow, specifically aimed to mess with poor black voters.

Bob Daugherty/Associated Press"But look at the fun parades they got out of it!"

But modern voter ID laws are worse. When adjusted for inflation, they literally cost more than poll taxes did. With the poll taxes, you slapped a bunch of money on the table and that was that. Voter IDs may be technically free, but in practice, they eat away both your money and your time. You have to find out what the ID requirements are and how to meet them. You have to purchase the required birth, marriage, naturalization, etc. certificates, and deal with the possible fees from legal help you might need in acquiring those. You need to travel to the necessary agencies, wait in the necessary lines. And, worst of all, you need to acquire a semi-presentable photo of yourself that isn't a Facebook photo of you on a toilet drunkenly eating ramen. All of this can cost you anything from $75 from to $1,500. Hey, guess how much the poll tax was when it was outlawed in 1964? $1.50.

Oh, Louisiana.

1

Anti-Sodomy Laws Are Still Going Strong (Despite Being Unconstitutional)

We've already covered the 2003 Lawrence v. Texas case, which struck down discriminating anti-sodomy laws and ushered in a new era of equality for gay people in this country. But the defendant in that case never actually repealed the law that the Supreme Court struck down. Texas happily kept its anti-sodomy law on the books as a "Fuck You" to the progressive agenda, which consists of "stop screwing people over, thanks." To this day, a total of 12 states still have anti-sodomy laws on the books. But still, it's not like they're used, right? Even at the time it was being argued, Texas' anti-sodomy statute was just a rarely enforced, antiquated middle finger to the ghost of Harvey Milk.

Now, Louisiana, on the other hand ...

Scott Olson/Getty ImagesDamn it, Louisiana.

Police officers in Louisiana are still absolutely arresting gay men under the aegis of anti-sodomy statutes. Sure, the arrests are futile, because the laws are unconstitutional and thus absolutely toothless. However, this has done little to curb the cops' enthusiasm, and the effect can be devastating to the gay community. It's not a flub by cops who aren't aware of the anti-sodomy laws' declawed status, either. Between 2003 and 2013, the police even conducted a "sting operation" to root out casual gay sex. To be clear, this wasn't like a narcotic sting that used antiquated laws as false pretext for search and seizure. The sting actively targeted gay men who were having consensual sex and arrested them for the rough legal equivalent of "shits and giggles." The stings may be over, but individual anti-sodomy arrests still take place, and similar harassment arrests have been known to happen all the way up to North Carolina. The good Carolina! Wait, is it? Or is South Carolina the good one? Double-wait: Is there a good Carolina, or are we thinking of Korea?

J.C. Breen lives and works in New York City. If you dig his writing here, be sure and go to his website and keep reading until you find something of his you don't like.

Think Nana and Pop-Pop's loving 60-year monogamous relationship is quaint and old-fashioned? First off, sorry for that disturbing image, but we've got some news for you: the monogamous sexual relationship is actually brand new relative to how long humans have been around. Secondly, it's about to get worse from here: monkey sex.

On this month's live podcast, Jack O'Brien and the Cracked staff welcome Dr. Christopher Ryan, podcaster and author of 'Sex at Dawn', onto the show for a lively Valentine's Day discussion about love, sex, why our genitals are where they are, and why we're more like chimps and bonobos than you think.

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For more backward things still going strong in this country, check out 5 Insane Laws Written Specifically To Harass Poor People and 22 Insane Laws You Won't Believe Exist In The Modern World.

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