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13th, By Ana Duvernay

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Ana DuVernay’s documentary, “13th” explores and brings light to how the 13th amendment makes it unconstitutional to be held a slave with the exception of being labeled as a criminal. The documentary explains that due to the language used in the 13th amendment, the rights that black people fought to have during the Civil War can be stripped away from them once labeled a criminal. The film states that 1 in every 17 white males are incarcerated during their lifetime, while 1 in every 3 black males are incarcerated during their lifetime. Statistics like these act as evidence for the racial injustice and inequity that is still found in our police and prison system today. Once labeled a criminal, your rights to vote, get a job, take out loans, etc. …show more content…

Once you have been accused of a crime and labeled a criminal, your rights are taken away and you in turn become a slave to the state. Educator and author Michelle Alexander explained that,“so many aspects of the old Jim Crow are suddenly legal again once you’ve been branded a felon. And so it seems that in America we haven’t so much ended racial caste, but simply redesigned it” (13th, 1:17:50). The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world which is attributed to the wording of the 13th amendment. This amendment implies that slavery can be used as a punishment for crime. After the Civil War, people of color were arrested in mass numbers, as the words, “except as a punishment for crime” allowed them to be enslaved and used for free labor to rebuild the economy (13th, 3:50). The documentary explains how several presidential campaigns, the war on drugs, the 1994 crime bill, the portraying of black people as “super predators” in the media, and the impact of ALEC and its partnership with the CCA have largely affected the rates of people of color being incarcerated on the terms of injustice and the racist system that history has …show more content…

Access and attention to this information has become easy and immediate through social media. Therefore, I find it impossible that anyone could say that they were unaware of the injustice within our police and prison systems towards people of color before watching this documentary. However, I was unaware of some of the moments in our history that have built up this injustice that we see today. Although I have studied the constitution's amendments several times throughout my education, it has never been brought to my attention that the wording of it allows people to be treated as a slave once they are labeled a criminal. In my memory of learning about this amendment, I was taught that this amendment abolished slavery after the Civil War. Attention was never brought to the fact that the amendment also states that this abolishment of slavery is an exception if you are a criminal. The 13th amendment is worded this way as an attempt to keep people of color oppressed, treated with injustice, and ultimately as slaves. When reflecting on this, it makes me realize the systematic racism built within our education system as these things are not taught in our classrooms. In our country, if you have been incarcerated (typically unfairly) as punishment you are treated as a slave, which is allowed through our constitution. Before watching this

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Ava DuVernay suggests Slavery’s NOT Dead in 13th The recently released Netflix original documentary 13th identifies the issue of race in America and how the government instills fear in the nation in order to provide justice for the people by enforcing a ‘War on Crime.’ This tactic was Nixon’s way of incarcerating blacks during his presidency. Many of the elections beginning with President Truman’s era were a long list of former Presidents that used crime as a platform. Whoever was ‘tougher’ on crime would win the election.

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In the documentary “13th” directed by Ava Duvernay, focuses mainly on a recurring issue in society since the mid-1800’s. The documentary takes both sides and depicts the concerns and problems that many inmates face day to day. “13th” asks the question if African-Americans were actually ever truly “free” in this country. African Americans are considered free under their born rights but what “free” meant to myself through this film is, will they ever be treated equally compared to the rest of society. The opening minutes of the film started with a statistic that read, “One out of four African-American males will serve prison time at one point or another in their lives”.

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By analyzing the 13th Amendment, the film argues that although slavery was legally abolished, it persisted differently through the criminal justice system. The documentary exposes mass incarceration's root causes and dire consequences, particularly for Black Americans, and calls for change in the current system.

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In Michelle Alexander’s talk, she described how discrimination becomes legalized once individuals become branded as a felon. As a result of a felony conviction, tons of offenders lose their right to vote, right to serve on jury, right to be free on legal discrimination regarding housing, and access to education. These restrictions connect to the systems of privilege, as it reinforces the stigma against felons while the social power of law enforcement agencies rises. The systems of privilege get maintained with the use of social control. According to statistics that Alexander gathered, African American males were the ones mostly affected by the felon disenfranchisement laws.

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Ava Duvernay's documentary "13th" does a great job of capturing the problems with the criminal justice system in North America. It draws attention to problems with excessive minority representation and racial injustices in the system. This paper will examine the central issue and main message explored in the documentary "13th". It will also explore my initial reaction to the film and whether any specific case or facts challenged my pre-existing views on the prison system. Additionally, a comparative analysis will be conducted between the intersection of race, crime, and criminal justice in Canada and what is presented in "13th".

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Unveiling Injustice: Analyzing "13th" and the Crisis of Mass Incarceration in America Ava DuVernay's documentary "13th" serves as a poignant exposé on the crisis of mass incarceration in the United States, particularly its disproportionate impact on African American communities. Through a critical lens, the film scrutinizes the historical context, systemic racism, and policies like the 13th Amendment, shedding light on the deep-rooted inequalities within the criminal justice system. This essay delves into the persuasive strategies employed in the documentary, the necessity of data-driven evaluation, and the scholarly discourse surrounding the issues it addresses. "13th" strategically employs emotional persuasion to evoke empathy and outrage

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African Americans were imprisoned for minor crimes; even not having a job could get them arrested. This eventually led to the convict lease system, and the exploitation of the faulty clause in the amendment has been going on since then. It was followed by the rise of the Klu Klux Klan, Jim crow laws, declaring war on drugs and crime, imposing mandatory minimum sentences, three strikes law, police brutality, all of which targeted the African American society, specifically the men and criminalized them. As a result, prison population has been rising since 1970s, and today United States has 5% of the world population, but 25% of the world’s prison population. This mass incarceration has wiped the African American community of a generation of leadership, forced children to grow up without their fathers and harmed the society irrecoverably.

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After the ratification of The 13th Amendment [Document A] in December 1865, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States..” Southern states put forth what was called Black Codes, which were deliberately meant to demean and beat down Black Americans. An example of a Black Code is [Document C] “It shall not be lawful for any freedman… to intermarry with any white person… and any person shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and… confined in the State penitentiary for life…” where it is considered a crime deserving of confinement for life when a Black person to marry a White person, classified as a felony. This is only one example of many other Black Codes that were made to press Black people in retaliation to the 13th

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Annotated Bibliography Alexander, M. (2010). The new Jim Crow: Mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness. New York: The New Press. Alexander opens up on the history of the criminal justice system, disciplinary crime policy and race in the U.S. detailing the ways in which crime policy and mass incarceration have worked together to continue the reduction and defeat of black Americans.

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Angela Davis Once said “Well for one, The 13th Amendment to the constitution of the U.S. which abolished slavery, did not abolish slavery for those convicted of a crime.” Although the amendment was desperately needed it made more problems for the U.S.The thirteenth amendment was about abolishing slavery. Many people had different opinions about this amendment. The amendment affected our nation dramatically. The 13th amendment to the United States Constitution says that, "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

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The thirteenth amendment stated that all former slaves were granted freedom. The reconstruction period, “did create the essential constitutional foundation for further advances in the quest for equality”. It laid the building blocks for the future building for civil rights not just for blacks but women and other minorities. Former slaves, “ found comfort in their family and in the churches they established”. Blacks took community in each other and bonded over the mutual idea of freedom .

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Michelle Alexander, similarly, points out the same truth that African American men are targeted substantially by the criminal justice system due to the long history leading to racial bias and mass incarceration within her text “The New Jim Crow”. Both Martin Luther King Jr.’s and Michelle Alexander’s text exhibit the brutality and social injustice that the African American community experiences, which ultimately expedites the mass incarceration of African American men, reflecting the current flawed prison system in the U.S. The American prison system is flawed in numerous ways as both King and Alexander points out. A significant flaw that was identified is the injustice of specifically targeting African American men for crimes due to the racial stereotypes formed as a result of racial formation. Racial formation is the accumulation of racial identities and categories that are formed, reconstructed, and abrogated throughout history.

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