Introduction
America: “The land of the free, and the home of the brave” (Key);the nation where “All men are created equal,” where we fought a war to prevent others from threatening our “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” (Dec. of Ind.) We are a nation born of pride and a revolutionary spirit- founded on principals that each man will have the opportunity to become better simply by the freedoms and laws that guarantee us equal chance at our dreams.
But the story of our nation is far from being this black and white…or maybe it isn’t. After the words on the “Declaration of Independence”were penned by Thomas Jefferson, he returned to his plantation and slaves. George Washington, our Revolutionary War hero and noble first President, kept his own slaves on hand at Mount Vernon. Our Founding Fathers, whose genius helped form a truly unique nation, believed that slavery would just take care of itself. However, once our economy becomes directly tied to cotton, it virtually guarantees that slavery will not simply dissipate on its own.
In this documentary, the issue of inequality in America, both past and present, will be explored. And it will be explored primarily in numbers- because whether we are looking at the millions stolen from Africa and sold into slavery during the Triangle Trade or the fact that 38% of our prison population is currently black (despite them only making up 13% of our population), the numbers don’t lie. They help affirm a story of hatred and
