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 opinion of whites came to be that black people were scheming criminals, instead of docile slaves. After the 13th amendment was passed, there was a void in the economy, as plantation owners and other slave-owners now had to pay workers. In order to get around this problem, a new system arose in which black people were imprisoned and then forced to perform free labor. This system was perpetuated by the culture of white American society, which repeatedly associated black people with crime in film and in politics. The so-called “War on Drugs” was used to affect cultural opinions on black people by associating them with heroin and hippies by associating them with marijuana. The combination of structural and cultural tactics made the film extremely effective in portraying the realities of the prison system today.
After the passage of the 13th amendment the United States prison and law enforcement system failed to adjust to the…show more content… I would also do away with the class structure within prison, and end the practice of assigning prisoners A, B, and C rankings, as this structural component of prisons cements the unjust treatment of the lower castes. I would not say that India would be able to impose sanctions on the US, given India’s own problems with prison
