Ryan Mecca | Texas Couple Get 7 Years in Prison for Enslaving Guinean Girl for 16 Years

         Couple Mohammed Toure and Denise Cros-Toure enslaved a young woman from Guinea for 16 years, shortly after she had immigrated to the United States as a child. They were found guilty in court for many crimes including forced labor and have been sentenced to 7 years in jail and must pay $290,000 in restitution. Authorities say that they may be deported to Guinea, being immigrants themselves, after they serve their sentences. The girl was forced to live under terrible conditions, including limited space, physical abuse, and extensive labor. Cros-Toure's lawyer claimed that the girl was exaggerating the stories in efforts to stay in America.
         While many people are unaware of the frequency of incidences like this where immigrant children are enslaved, oftentimes sold under the noses of authority. It's a shame that this sort of thing still happens in our country, regardless of our long history of civil rights reform efforts. Obviously, our efforts have not been enough and some people, like the Toures, believe that they can get away with such an evil act, as expressed by the author of the article, Mihir Zaveri, towards the end of the article. The intended audience of this article is those who have been previously informed of this specific court trial, as it mostly gives closure by stating the results and consequences of the ruling.
         The issue of this article relates to that of the years after the mid-50s, as with the Brown v Board of Education case, which outlawed segregation based on race in schools. After this case however, still treated African Americans poorly and tried their best to separate them from their white counterparts in schools. While slavery was illegal, many laws such as the Jim Crow Laws attempted to keep African Americans' rights to an absolute minimum. While slavery has been long outlawed, Mohammed Toure and Denise Cros-Toure decided to enslave the Guinean girl.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/23/us/dallas-couple-enslaves-girl.html