Every single day, there’s always information coming out about new ways that white supremacists in America find to abuse black people. The latest is in South Carolina.
According to a press release by the Department of Justice, 54-year-old Bobby Paul Edwards was sentenced on November 4 after pleading guilty to one count of forced labor. For 23 years, he forced an intellectually disabled black man named Chris Smith to work without pay at his family-owned restaurant called J&J Cafeteria. Smith lives in a small room behind the restaurant and was constantly whipped with a belt, beat with pots, and burned with hot grease.
When Edwards took over the family business, he withheld Smith’s payments and kept them in an account that he couldn’t access. Smith worked 18 hours a day and six days a week. In his apartment, it was infested with roaches and when his family tried to see him, Edwards kicked Smith in a kitchen or freezer.
When Smith had chances to escape, he was caught, beat with pans and constantly called the n-word. Customers even heard Smith screaming for his life on many occasions.
“I wanted to get out of there a long time ago. But I didn’t have nobody I could go to,” Smith explained. “I couldn’t go anywhere. I couldn’t see none of my family so that was that…That’s the main basic thing I wanted to see was my mom [to] come see me.”
Geneane Caines was friends with Edwards’ family and soon reported Edwards to the Department of Social Services where he was finally rescued. Abdullah Mustafa, President of the Conway chapter of the NAACP, was also alerted about the situation as Smith was able to stay in her home for two months so he could get back on his feet.
Even after the brutal violence committed against Smith, Edwards was only sentenced to 10 years in prison. He was also ordered to pay $272,952.96 in restitution. The 10-year sentence is complete BS and is the epitome of how America doesn’t care about how black people are treated in 2019. Edwards should be sentenced to life for having someone enslaved.
Flip the page to watch Smith speaking on finally escaping that restaurant, courtesy of WPDE ABC 15 News.