Former NFL Running Back Warns Of ‘Slave Labor’ After DOJ Signals Return to Private Prisons

at Gillette Stadium on September 18, 2016 in Foxboro, Massachusetts.
Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

Former NFL Running Back Arian Foster will apparently not go quietly into the good night of retirement. Foster launched into a Twitter tirade on Thursday night, weighing in on race, criminal justice, social classes, and just about every other social justice issue under the sun.

The rant appeared after an announcement by the Department of Justice, that Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a memo greenlighting the continued use of private prisons. This directive overrides a previous memo issued under the Obama Administration, by then-Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, where she told the Bureau of Prisons that they should either decline, or significantly reduce the role of private prisons upon reaching the end of their contract.

This did not sit well with Foster, who tweeted that the move herald the rise of prison labor:

Things deteriorated from there, when Foster began responding to detractors and supporters in his timeline:

Foster played for eight years in the NFL, most of it with the Houston Texans. During that time he was one of the best running backs in the game, totaling nearly 9,000 yards and 68 touchdowns.

I’m going to choose to remember him for those things.

Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter: @themightygwinn

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