13th Documentary

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The documentary "13th" offers a critical analysis of the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution and how it is used to maintain racial inequity throughout the criminal justice system. It examines the background of racial discrimination in the US, emphasizing the change in racial control tactics from mass incarceration to slavery. The documentary explores the economic and political motives that have propelled the prison industrial complex, which has a disproportionate impact on communities of color in Africa. It's a compelling story that makes viewers consider the effects of racial justice and incarceration in America. The main thing that I learned from the 13th documentary was the sociological problem with the criminal justice system, …show more content…
Moreover, through data, expert interviews, and archive video recordings, it also shows how political strategies and policies that have targeted African American neighborhoods have led to disproportionate rates of incarceration. In maintaining these discrepancies, it draws attention to the part played by structural injustices and institutional prejudices. The video pointed out the Lynchings between Reconstruction and World War II, thousands of African Americans were murdered by mobs, under the idea that they had done something criminal, and every time people saw a sign that said, "white and colored". Hence, one of the most brilliant tactics of the civil rights movement was its transformation of the notion of criminality. The civil rights movement was a factor in the increase in crime rates, and as a country, we would pay a price for crime if we granted black people their freedom. However, the prison population in the U.S. was largely flat throughout most of the 20th century, especially at the beginning of the

13TH Documentary Analysis

13TH is a documentary on Netflix that examines mass incarceration and the connections it has to slavery and Jim Crow segregation. The documentary focuses on how mass incarceration has become monetized and is the new form of slavery in the United States. This system also inherently encourages police and guard brutality. The Civil Rights movement in the 50s and 60s allowed African-Americans to overcome Jim Crow segregation in its current form. The systematic removal of black leaders like MLK, Malcolm…

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13th, By Ava Duvernay

13th is an American documentary by director Ava DuVernay. Centered on race in the United States criminal justice system. The documentary is titled after the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which outlawed slavery. The documentary begins with a quote from the President Barack Obama, “The United States is home to 5% of the world’s population but 25% of the world’s prisoners”. This statistic stated by Obama sets the tone for what's ahead; a very overwhelming and straightforward…

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Structural Racism In The Film '13th'

The documentary “13th” highlights the structural racism that is still present in American society today. The documentary uses a combination of both Structuralist and Culturist perspectives in order to legitimize the claims made by the speakers in the movie. The title of the documentary, “13th” refers to the thirteenth amendment that banned slavery, except for punishment of a crime, leading to a structural change in race relations. With this change in structure came a change in culture, as the popular…

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Stereotypes In Mass Media

video takes a hard look at why the United States leads the world in incarceration and how that fuels and feeds into a cultural mythology that proliferates itself with blacks as criminals (DuVernay). 13TH is produced independently, but earned Netflix an Oscar nomination and won awards for best documentary on its own merits. Other examples of the counteractive portrayal of all racial groups exist throughout society. As much as any racism continues to exist in society, the current generation is equally…

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13th Reflection

After watching the documentary 13th, it really got me thinking about the United States past history of racism and how it has never really gone away, it has only been manipulated and changed over time. Before watching this video, I knew that there has always been racism towards African Americans and other minorities in the United States, but I never realized how much the past has been covered up or I have never been taught. I knew the United States had a high imprisonment rate, but I did not realize…

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Treatment Of African Americans In James Baldwin's Stranger In A Village

but we have created a new issue. Although so many Americans support equal opportunity and equal rights, it has become nearly impossible to reach the people who aren’t receiving it, proving to be an issue that is not easily rectified. The documentary “The 13th” explains in detail why many Americans are still…

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The New Jim Crow Chapter 2 Summary

The documentary “13th” and the chapter 1 from “The New Jim Crow” emphasize that the American communities of color are still facing with racial justice issues. The documentary brings back to the history of race, incarceration, and disempowerment of minority communities in the United States. The amount of prejudice and the crisis of mass incarceration are continued to link with history of slavery. Even though the thirteenth amendment states that slavery was abolished in 1865, and legally embedded,…

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Essay On Racism In Huckleberry Finn

A Changing Beast: Racism in America Our nation prides itself in the fact that any person has a right to their own opinion. It is the cornerstone of American democracy. However, as Americans, we struggle to distinguish between fact and opinion at times. We argue over the presence of racism in the 21st century even when minorities are systemically oppressed by this nation’s own government. In our prisons, African Americans, on average, are given 20% longer sentences than whites. In our schools, minorities…

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13th Title Sequence Essay

13th Title sequence review The opening title sequence of the documentary, extending until the 2:50 mark, serves as a powerful prologue, consisting of stark black and white animation that maps the United States. Accompanied by President Obama’s quote on unnerving statistics on Americas’ incarceration rate, the tone is immediately set. The tone it introduces is that it's a documentary with a serious message about the deep-seated racial disparities within the American justice system. As the sequence…

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The 13th Film Analysis

Prior to watching 13th, I had a very vague and general understanding of our current criminal justice system. The movie widened my horizon in recognizing the injustice the majority of Americans see in the justice system, as well as compare modern day situations to historical methods of discrimination against specifically, African Americans. Through the modernization of the media, the world is able to receive more accurate and faster information that has led to the widespread knowledge of movements…

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