The documentary 13th was released on October 7, 2016 and it triggered a worldwide shock. As a documentary, it was adept enough to address several ongoing issues, especially regarding the maltreatment of African Americans, but the documentary was shaped around the theme that African Americans were never free, and continue to fight for that freedom. The content within the documentary varied from earlier times where slavery, segregation and, Jim Crow laws existed to the more implicit manner of racism that is presented through the massive imprisonment of African Americans, and unjustified use of the criminal justice system against them. The documentary revolves around three main themes: the overrepresentation of African Americans in the media, …show more content…
As seen in 13th, there have been several cases where innocent young American boys have suffered at the hands of the system scarring them for life. For example, the case of Kalief Browder, who was black male walking back home with his friends in the Bronx when he was stopped by the police (Averick, 2016) Kalief was 16 years old when he was charged with allegedly stealing a backpack, and spent three years at Rikers Island without a trial. As told by Kalief, the police told him they would take him down to the precinct for questioning and he will most likely be able to go home, but he never did (Averick, 2016). The system granted him bail for $10,000 perfectly knowing he couldn’t pay that amount of money (Averick, 2016). Just like Kalief, 97% of the African Americans who are currently sitting in prison never saw a trial (Averick, 2016). The criminal justice system stopped being about who guilty or innocent, but rather on the amount of money greedy white-privileged men can earn based on the number of people in a prison. Kalief Browder endured physical and emotional pain, for a crime later shown he didn’t commit. Browder was released after the charges were dropped, but two years after, he died by suicide (Averick, 2016). The life of Kalief Browder and his family will forever be scarred because of a system who sees people as dollar signs. Besides