The film 13th is a documentary that explains how the prison systems are another form of slavery and is built to effect colored individuals and colored communities. The film identifies and explained a loop hole in the 13th amendment, which banned slavery. The loop in the amendment is that slavery and involuntary servitude is illegal unless a person is convicted of a crime. This clause in the amendment led to the first prison boom in America and mass incarceration. This film opened my eyes to underlying aspects of things that I have had previous knowledge about. As a black person we are taught to praise the 13th amendment to the constitution but, it didn’t really help us completely, it just gave racist a new way to control people of color or …show more content…
The incarcerated former slaves were once again considered property. The only difference is now they are property of the state or county they are serving time to. The so called “criminals” are once again being to forced to work for free, being told when it was time to eat, being told when it is time to sleep, and etc. The citizenship former slaves were supposedly rewarded is immediately striped away from them because, they were labeled as criminals. The mainstream media always portrayed the African Americans, specifically the males, as being dangerous and criminals. The media today still does this. The media spends more time talking about the negative things happening in the black community than it does on the positive. I learned about the war on crime and on the war drugs in my middle school and high school history classes but, I never thought about it in depth. I just focused on what I was taught. The most important fact in this documentary that I learned is the fact that while supposedly …show more content…
The law enforcement system is basically carrying out ideas and actions that has been in place for years. The only difference is that now it is easily shown to the public immediately without anyone editing cropping, or changing it. It seen plan as that what is happening. It is not easy to cover up what happen or to blame what happened on someone else. Also, the generations of “colored” people that are living today are not afraid to fight or speak out what is wrong. I know my generation, especially the people I grew up with and graduated with do not take things lying down and will fight tooth and nail for what we believe in. I believe that this film allows people to be awaken to things that have are meant to stay in dark. It is reason that in grade school that part of the 13th amendment is left