Hillary Clinton’s famous book It Takes a Village was published in 1996, but earlier this afternoon, the activist Samuel Sinyangwe—who has written on prison slave labor before—dug up an old excerpt. By 2017 standards (and we think by 1996 standards, too?), it’s pretty shocking:

What Hillary did certainly wasn't illegal, and the problem was systemic, but it seems morally reprehensible on a number of levels—not the least of which is how she seems to pat herself on the back for adjusting to a deplorable situation, rather than questioning or attempting to change the situation itself. Instead, she “abided by tradition,” and all we can say is that we're glad Hillary wasn't a major political figure around 1865.

As you might imagine, the “news” has triggered an avalanche of commentary online. Most of the initial reactions looked something like this:

Hillary Clinton accepting modern-day slave institutions because the inmates there were some of "the good ones," is disgusting. https://t.co/3g4LH2sB2A — Erykah ?? (@queseryto) June 6, 2017

haven't been super online today but I see that uhhhhh (checks again) Hillary Clinton had slaves — Brandy Jensen (@BrandyLJensen) June 6, 2017

Prison labor is slavery and if you're defending Hillary's use of it I'm not interested. — don't @ me (@alyssakeiko) June 6, 2017

Things quickly turned sardonic and bitter:

"How to Navigate Through Your White Feelings While Still Enjoying Slave Labour" by Hillary Clinton https://t.co/1CFri4mSq0 — ???????? (@geeramsci) June 6, 2017

man all this time I thought Bill was the marginally worse person — Godzilla Mindset (@ByYourLogic) June 6, 2017

hillary: we only whipped a couple of them

me: im still with her — raandy (@randygdub) June 6, 2017

RT @IfHillaryHad Approval rating among a certain subset of voters goes up after they find out that POTUS used to have slaves — Bobby Big Wheel (@BobbyBigWheel) June 6, 2017

"But her slave labor!" — the bodyslam politic (@joe___nelson) June 6, 2017

yaaas kween. discipline those slaves https://t.co/kyiDrAeqqI — Alex Nichols (@Lowenaffchen) June 6, 2017

BERNIE: i ride my bicycle to work. and i buy the store brand seltzer. it's just as good!



HILLARY: i literally used slave labor in Arkansas. — maple cocaine (@historyinflicks) June 6, 2017

I didn't know Hillary wrote for The Atlantic — Chris Person (@Papapishu) June 6, 2017

But probably the best and most sincere thread on the entire matter came from @JeannetteJing, which you can read here. And while you’re here, read Shane Bauer’s excellent Mother Jones feature on the four months he spent as a private prison guard. Beyond the outrage, which we’re still processing, it’s astounding that this passage never saw the light of the day either in the primary or the general election. I’d say “lucky her,” but, well….you know.