Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
By Matthew Tiszenkel
13TH (2016), Ava DuVernay’s Oscar nominated documentary, challenges the wording of
the 13th Amendment to the U.S. constitution, asserting that it allows for the extension of
slavery into America today. This film explores how the American prison system, fueled by a
racist and capitalist agenda, keeps people of color oppressed, while padding the pockets of the
American capitalist elite. Upon considering the steady rise in the U.S. prison population over
the last four decades, the overrepresentation of people of color in that population and the
continued militarization of America’s police force, it grows abundantly clear that America’s
judicial system was never designed to rehabilitate. Instead, it serves to obfuscate the continued
utilization of the highly profitable slave economy, while systematically oppressing people of
color.
The 13th Amendment to the U.S. constitution marked a major victory for African
Americans, upon its ratification in 1865. This amendment formally abolished slavery across the
United States. It states, “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” (Primary Documents). Therein lies the problem, “except
as punishment for crime.” This is the basis behind the narrative, and name, of the film 13TH
(2016). Essentially, America took a massive population of slaves, freed them overnight and
included the caveat that if these newly freed men become incarcerated for a crime, they may,
once again, fall subject to life as a slave. Naturally, exploitation of this loophole occurred almost
immediately through mass arrests of African Americans for minor crimes like loitering and
vagrancy (Turan, 2016). This major loophole was only the start of a new economic system that
After the turn of the century, in 1915, D.W. Griffith’s film, The Birth of a Nation, swept
the nation, introducing the myth of black criminality and glorifying the Ku Klux Klan (13TH,
2016). This idea that black men are dangerous criminals, who pose a threat to white women,
helped enforce Jim Crow laws and keep Black men incarcerated and working until the civil
rights movement began in the 1950s. According to the film, Emmett Till’s mother’s decision to
make his funeral open casket and to allow the publication of Emmet’s pictures was largely
responsible for the call to action that became the civil rights movement. It is horrifying to think
that not even one generation has passed since Jim Crow laws were in effect. Although, as the
older generation passes on, hopefully, the mistreatment of people of color will die with them.
One of the film’s speakers posits that the civil rights movement had the unique effect of
shifting the public outlook on arrests to a noble consequence of fighting for one’s beliefs.
Unfortunately, the crime spike during the civil rights movement made it very easy for politicians
draw a correlation between crime and the movement, painting the activists as violent criminals
and enemies of the state (13TH, 2016). Shortly after, through animated white text, the film
informs the viewer that in 1970 the U.S. Prison population was 357,292. Then, Nixon declared
his war on crime which started the rapidly accelerated the growth of the U.S. prison population
to its 2014 size of 2.3 million. Nixon knew that by declaring his war on crime, he was declaring
Actions have consequences and the consequence of the popularity of Nixon’s war on
crime was its use as a presidential campaign platform for the next 20 years. In 1980, the prison
population reached 513,000. However, that was not good enough for Regan, he knew he had to
be tougher on crime. With crack cocaine spreading like wildfire through communities of color, it
was an easy target. With the help of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), Regan
cocaine (13TH, 2016). Considering cocaine is more expensive and commonly used by white
people, while crack saw more use by poorer people of color, it appears obvious that the goal of
these mandatory sentences was to incarcerate and enslave more people of color. If this context
does not provide enough evidence, consider that the prison population raised by almost 48% to
George H W Bush won the presidential race by selling the idea that he would be tough
on black crime. He plastered the picture of an African American murderer, Willie Horton, who
his opponent allowed out of prison on a weekend pass. This proved to be essential to his
winning the election, as before this ad Dukakis was poling over bush two to one. Much of the
country loved seeing black people depicted as criminals all over the media and could not wait
to have another president who would lock them up. One year into his presidency, the prison
population had skyrocketed to 1,179,200. Interestingly, it was not until Bill Clinton’s presidency
that the industrial prison complex really started to get out of hand.
Bill Clinton, learning from the successes of the Republican party, decided that to win the
Presidential race, he had to take a firm public stance against crime. Enlisting the help of his
associates at ALEC, Clinton enacted the 1994 Federal Crime Bill which allocated Federal funding
to build prisons and to put 100,000 police on the streets. This bill was likely the most harmful
piece of legislature to hit the black community since the abolition of slavery because it
militarized the U.S. police. In a criminal system rooted in racism, putting that many police on
the street was bound to increase the prison population, and racial tensions, to record highs. By
the end of his presidency, the prison population exceeded 2 million, 878,400 of those being
African American. This was the start of the current statistic that black men account for 6.5% of
the U.S. population but 40.2% of the U.S. prison population (13th, 2016).
While African Americans, and other people of color, are rotting away in prison,
corporate America is profiting. ALEC, mentioned above, is largely responsible for many of these
oppressive laws. ALEC is an organization where politicians and corporations meet to make
policy decisions. It is essentially a quid pro quo environment, where corporations give funding
to politicians who back legislature of their choosing. These corporations and politicians hold
secret votes to decide on what laws they might introduce to the population. For many years,
Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), one of the largest private prison corporations in the
U.S., was an active member. During CCA’s membership, California’s three strike rule, strict
mandatory minimums, the 85% rule and SB1070 were all passed into law. Now that CCA left
ALEC, ALEC is acting in favor of prison reform to benefit another member, the American Bail
Coalition (ABC) (13th, 2016). Their goal is to keep people on house arrest, with ABC tracking
anklets.
After laying out how the prison system serves to oppress people of color and to profit
corporations, the film discusses the injustices once someone gets arrested. In the case of Khalif
Browder, he was held for three years waiting for his trial where is case was immediately
dropped. Were he able to post the $10,000 bail, he could have left any time. This is one of
many examples of how the system punishes the poor. Additionally, the documentary describes
the plea bargain system and how it prays on one’s fear of a mandatory minimum to keep
prisons at capacity. If someone chooses not to take a plea deal, they receive harsher sentencing
One in three American black men will go to prison in their lifetime, compared to one in
seventeen white men. This fact is clearly the result of a targeted initiative to lock up and
enslave black men, dating back to the ratification of the 13th Amendment. Regardless of one’s
criminal status, everyone should receive the same basic human rights. Ultimately, the only way
to enact change is to band together and make sure the politicians in charge understand that
America will not give up until everyone receives equal treatment under the law.
Bibliography
Butler, Bethonie. “Ava DuVernay's Netflix Film '13th' Reveals How Mass Incarceration Is an
www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2016/10/06/ava-
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slavery/?utm_term=.632ea53b9a89.
“Primary Documents in American History: 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.” Virtual
www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/13thamendment.html.
Turan, Kenneth. “Ava DuVernay's Documentary '13th' Simmers with Anger and Burns with
www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-13th-review-20161001-snap-
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