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June 17: The Date That Will Live In Irony
U.S. Supreme Court ruled against African child-slave-laborers on the same day President Biden signed legislation making Juneteenth a federal holiday
On June 17, 2021, President Joe Biden commemorated the end of slavery in the United States by signing a bill that made Juneteenth a federal holiday. Ironically, on the same day, the United States Supreme Court decided 8 to 1 against six African plaintiffs in Nestle USA v. Doe, a child slave labor lawsuit.
This case was originally filed in 2005 and was dismissed in 2010 by a California federal judge. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the dismissal and after a decade and a half the case was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The lawsuit targeted the U.S. subsidiary of Swiss-based Nestle, a multinational food and beverage conglomerate, and U.S. commodities trading giant Cargill.
The plaintiffs, citizens of Mali, claimed they were snatched from their homeland, trafficked to the neighboring Ivory Coast, and forced to work on cocoa farms. The plaintiffs accused Nestle and Cargill of aiding and abetting human rights violations through their “active involvement in purchasing” cocoa from the Ivory Coast. The lawsuit stated these companies turned a blind…