A recap of 13th’s biggest takeaways — and how it relates to today.
From a young white teen.
The 13th is a documentary, directed by Ava DuVernay, which leaves viewers shocked by what the American education system doesn’t teach it’s students. It starts off by stating that the 13th amendment didn’t actually end slavery, contrary to popular belief.
The Recap
At first glance, it’s hard to believe. Until you realize that there’s a loophole.
“…except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted…”
Almost immediately, people of color were convicted and sent to jail over minor crimes, sentenced to slavery once again. This created the image that’s seen in “Birth of a Nation” (“The Clansman”) — which painted black people as villains and members of the KKK as heroes.
“The demographic geography of this country was shaped by that era. Now we have African Americans in Los Angeles, in Oakland, and Chicago, and Cleveland, Detroit, Boston, New York. And very few people appreciate that the African Americans in those communities did not go there as immigrants looking for new economic opportunities. They went there as refugees from terror” -Stevenson.
Eventually, the sort of behavior that the KKK participated in became socially unacceptable. But instead of disappearing entirely, it evolved into segregation and Jim Crow.
“Civil rights activists began to be portrayed in the media and among many politicians as criminals” — Alexander.
The Civil Rights Act was passed, which helped, but did not entirely solve the problem. Unfortunately, during this time, Baby Boomers were approaching adulthood. This addition to the adult population contributed to the rise in crime rates.
“It became very easy for politicians then to say that the civil rights movement was contributing to rising crime rates, and that if we were to give the Negroes their freedom, then we would be repaid, as a nation, with crime”
Thus began the dramatic rise in prison population, disquised as “law and order”. Ronald Regan’s term declared war on drugs, but was notably aimed towards black people. This section of the documentary is quite large, I’ll leave it to you to watch and learn.
The Big Takeaways / Realizations
- People, politicians especially, will cloak their real intents, so it’s up to you to research how their actions will affect people in every community.
- In the court, the prosecutors (95% of them are white) are the ones who sentences incarceration — not the judge.
- ALEC is responsible for many legistlations we see today
