The Film “13th ” “13th” Is a film on racial inequality and systemic racism in the justice system of the United States. The film makes the point that the 13th amendment in the Constitution, responsible for abolishing Slavery and slave labor has been used to create a system of racial oppression to control the population of minorities specifically the African American community, by using the 13th amendment. Which states that slave labor can be implemented as punishment for a crime. In the film 13th much of the conflict stems from how racism is not only systemic through institutions in the United States and the criminal justice system, but also how it went from individuals implementing their beliefs and power to laws and policies that allow for …show more content…
The 13th Amendment which abolished slavery included a clause that allowed involuntary servitude to be used to serve a sentence for a crime. This has led to the creation of a system that promotes mass incarceration and has had a huge negative effect on the African American and minority communities of the United States. The film also makes a point regarding the criminal justice system creating racial stereotypes of the African American community and other minorities like Latinos. It has done this through its War on Drugs which lead to many African Americans and Latinos being viewed as violent criminals. Though the creation of certain policies criminalized drug use and began to target minority communities predominantly African American and Latino. It used a campaign with the message of violence and danger that needed to be controlled within the African American and minority …show more content…
Much of the area in which progress has been seen, has been in informing the public in general to the issues of systemic racism inside the criminal justice stem. Through films like 13th conversations have sparked that bring attention to the issues. With the general public becoming informed we have seen pressure being placed on our government officials to create reforms to many of these policies that have been in place for so long. Some changes have been seen like a reduction in mandatory minimum sentences and the availability of drug treatment and other alternatives to becoming