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The abusive master is far worse. Being enslaved sucks donkey balls. Fuck slavers; that dude in the ghetto is at least nominally free, he's not liable to get bought and sold like a fucking cow, and he has at least nominal rights. He may be killed by cops or something, but even if he gets murdered by really goddamn bad cops they have to at least half ass hiding the body. And this is being rather uncharitable about our hero's rights.
While the idea of freedom is an interesting one, I do not believe that there is anybody free of any master. One can only hope for a gentle master.
If it's not a literal slave to a planter, he probably is beholden to some type of landlord. Anybody living on welfare is at the mercy of some policymakers changing eligibility rules or other people's money drying up. He's also a slave to his passions (sin).
I suppose it's a matter of degree, but at least in the 'hood you're not being treated like literal livestock. Tyrone is free to walk out of the hood and go where he likes; if he wants to go to a new city, nobody will be hunting him down with bloodhounds and mutilating or killing him if they catch him.
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