A bold claim, but look at the facts:

Exhibit A

USA Oil production per year

Exhibit B

ATF formed in 1972

Exhibit C

Prison population explosion after 1972

Exhibit D

Strong race and gender bias in those imprisoned

Exhibit E

Prisons today seem to be where slavery was most popular prior to US civil war

Discussions:

Yes some will argue that the slaves weren’t freed, and that legally every one in the US was made in to slave post civil war.

War on drugs was a Regan initiative, well really he just expanded it more.

There are as many black men enslaved today in prisons as there were black male slaves before the civil war;

furthermore most of the prison population are in the same places that held the largest populations of slaves pre civil war.