‘Indentured servants had no protections, and if you were sentenced to it in lieu of a prison term, it was most definitely slavery.’
his point is it was not chattel slavery, which extends past the individual down through his progeny; nobody claims indentured servants weren’t brutalized, but his descendents weren’t considered property to be bought and sold, and his future generations dispersed for profit...
Neither is the modern day sex slave who has been kidnapped and is now imprisoned in a brothel, and may die there if not rescued or able to escape. It's still slavery. If you are an adult working for no renumeration and are unable to quit, you're a slave.