13th Amendmentamendment Essay

Since the birth of the United States, the motto has always been the 'Land of the Free' or the 'Great American Melting Pot.' This may be true but for privileged individuals. However, many minority groups face disparities caused by the United States government. In 2016, a documentary called "13th" explains how minorities in the United States have faced enormous amounts of oppression and suffrage due to the 13th AmendmentAmendment being flawed. The 13th AmendmentAmendment states, "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime." This AmendmentAmendment has created a loophole for the government to imprison and oppress marginalized communities legally. The government imposes systemic disparities to incarcerate and oppress

They saw minorities as property instead of their peers. To prevent the minorities from receiving the same rights as the privileged, they began to criminalize these marginalized groups so they could arrest them and keep them in prison for an extended amount of time. In the 20th century, the government's tactics became prevalent to the public. The most known tactic during that time period was the war on drugs. The term "war on drugs" was coined by President Richard Nixon. The Nixon administration declared that drugs were the country's "public enemy." These illegal drugs were implemented in poor communities where minorities reside, so mass incarceration began. Throughout the 70s and 80s, the government spent millions to crack down on drug dealers and those doing drugs. This led to many Americans being imprisoned for simply possessing a drug, specifically marijuana, heroin, and cocaine. The majority of those Americans were minority men, which caused many of their families to be torn apart. Recently, the government has developed a tactic called the "three-strike rule." This law was enacted in 1994 by Congress and the Clinton administration. The purpose of the law was to give longer sentences to those who were previously convicted of a violent or severe felony to prevent them from being released and doing a crime again. Due to this law being passed, many minorities stayed in prison for most of their lives. This caused the government and private companies to build more prisons and profit from them. The authors Eve Goldberg and Linda Evans, writers, and filmmakers, published "The Prison Industrial Complex." This text discusses how the government and private corporations increase mass incarceration for profit. The text states, "For private business, prison labor is like a pot of gold. No strikes. No union organizing. No unemployment insurance or workers' compensation to pay."