Ken Camell ll
July 6 2019
Ethnic Studies
Analysis of "13th" Amendment Documentary
Ava Duvernay's documentary entitled "13th," gives an in-depth look at how The North American Constitution used the 13th Amendment to repackage and reintroduce slave labor. Ms. Duvernay concisely links the ongoing modern mass incarceration syndrome (1980- present day) to the Jim Crow laws (1874- 1975) which are both the byproducts of the convict lease system (1846 - 1928) and North American chattel slavery system (1619 - 1865). All of these methods of injustice provide an explanation to why North America has 25 % of the world's prison population even though North America only has 5% of the world's total population.
There is a common myth that slavery in North America ended in 1865 with the Emancipation Proclamation however the 13th Amendment stated that no one can be enslaved (forced manual labor) unless you are convicted of a crime. Black men were being convicted of meager crimes like loitering or vagrancy yet they were being punished severely. The majority of these punishments resulted in Black men being sentenced to work on plantations, working on the railroad aka chain gang or being lynched.
In the year 1915 W.D Griffin produced a movie entitled The Birth of a Nation, now this movie was acclaimed (and still is by some) as one of the greatest films of all time. This film depicted Black men as evil mad men who preyed on Caucasian women and the Ku Klux Klan were heroes who were going save Caucasian women from the uncivilized Black men. As a direct response to the film KKK membership grew exponentially and the film spread fear amongst Caucasian people all across North America. The Birth of a Nation provoked Caucasian mobs to lynch Black men and was responsible for creating stereotype that still lingers 100 years later. This set the trend of the mass media portraying Black men as criminals and in the decades that followed this tactic would be implemented to pass harsh legislation against Black and Brown men.
The civil rights movement (1954- 1968) was formed to address the racial inequalities in North America. The Civil Rights movement resorted to nonviolence protest, boycotts, sit inns and marches to draw attention to North America's ills such as; unequal Jim Crow laws, the bombings of Black churches and the lynching of Black men. The FBI investigated and spied on all Black leaders who were involved with the civil rights movement and were deemed as threats to the North American society.
After the assassinations of Medgar Evers (1925-1963), Malcom X (1925-1965) and Martin Luther King (1929-1968) The Black Power movement was formed to be more proactive and radical than the civil rights movement. In 1966 The Black Panther Party for self-defense was founded in Oakland Ca was the most organized group to emerge in the Black Power movement. They utilized their 1st and 2nd Amendment rights plus established breakfast programs for the Black children in the urban areas. This did not sit well with the Richard Nixon (37th President of North America), Ronald Reagan (Governor of California) or J Edgar Hoover (Director of the FBI). Nixon and Hoover declared war on The Black Panther Party, drugs, hippies and anyone else who challenged their law and order. The FBI neutralized the Black Panther Party with the counterintelligence program (co intel pro) infiltrating their organization and dividing members with forged documents and other corrupt activities. Bobby Hutton (1950-1968) and Fred Hampton (1948-1969) were Black Panther members who were killed by local police officers even though they were unarmed and their homicides were ruled as justifiable. Black Women like Assata Shakur and Angela Davis were involved with the Black Power movement and were subject to imprisonment plus listed The FBI most wanted list. Even though Assata Shakur was granted political asylum in Cuba she still remains on the FBI's most wanted list.
Prior to the 1980s prison populations had remained steady then the former California Governor Ronald Reagan was elected the North American President. Ronald Reagan relaunched a war on drugs and introduced Regan omics which eliminated numerous social programs. This resulted in poverty rates rising and of course crime rates rose as well due to the rampant desperation. Around this same time Crack Cocaine began flooding urban areas across North America and the mass incarceration of Black and Latino men began to take shape. Reagan then introduced legislation that punished 1st time felons to the fullest extent of the law regardless of the nature of the crime. These laws are called mandatory minimums and the majority of those convicted
and sentenced under the mandatory minimums were nonviolent offenders. In 1960 The North American prison population was around 300,000 and in 1980 the North American prison population was 513,000. When President Reagan left office in 1988 the prison population increased with 438,000 more inmates.
During the George Bush Sr Presidential campaign utilized fear tactics in the form of commercials and advertisements that showed the mugshot of a Black man named Willie Horton who was a convicted rapist. George Bush's slogan was "conservatives will protect you" and locking these violent Black men in prison is how we will keep you safe. Once George Bush Sr was elected President the term super predator was used to describe young Black men. During Bush Sr 4-year presidential term the prison population increased by 243,000 more inmates.
In 1992, Bill Clinton ran his presidential campaign on being heavy on crime. After being elected as the 43th North American President Bill Clinton was instrumental in getting 3 strikes law passed. He also signed bills that forced inmates to serve 85 % of their sentence, eliminated parole, prohibited former felons from receiving financial aid or aid from social services. In 1994 Bill Clinton signed a 30 billion crime bill which funded prison construction, hired more local police officers, and equipped local police with military weaponry. The impacts of mass incarceration include broken family structures and unjust sentencing. And due to the prison overcrowding many prisoner’s health needs are neglected and their human rights are violated. During Clinton’s two four presidential term the prison population increased by 673,000 more inmates.
As a result of mass incarnation the convicted are punished even after they are released whether it be no voting rights or facing the obstacles of securing employment. There are also a large percentage of Black men awaiting to be sentenced who are persuaded by legal aids to plead guilty to a lesser charge as oppose to fighting the case in a trial. The legal aids tell the alleged criminals that if you go to trial you face a 10 to 30-year sentence or plead guilty to lesser charge and face up to a 5-year sentence. North American Statistics show that 1 out of 3 Black males will be imprisoned in their lifetime as opposed to 1 out of 7 Caucasian males. The state and federal prison population grew from 218,466 in 1974 to 1,508,636 in 2014, which is a nearly 600 percent increase. For comparison, the overall United States population has increased just 51 percent since 1974.
In the 2000s legislation was passed which continue to criminalize Black males such as Current gun the stand your ground law. This enabled George Zimmerman to get away with murder. The stand your ground law written by the right wing political corporation ALEC. Various well known corporations like McDonald’s, Wal-Mart, AT&T, NRA, Google and the Corporate Corrections Association were all sponsors of ALEC. ALEC invested and profited handsomely from the mass incarceration. In the last 5 years ALEC's unjust activities have been exposed so in an attempt to reinvent their public image ALEC has been investing in privatized parole and probation via ankle bracelets claiming this approach is a better alternative for prison. One of ALEC’s slogans was profit from punishment. Legislation like the SB1070 law resulted in the construction mass immigration detainment centers so the victims of the current mass incarceration trends are illegal immigrants. In the last year we have all witnessed the current North American President Donald Trump spew venom in his anti-immigrant rhetoric. During his Presidential Campaign Trump stated he was the law and order candidate and proceeded to unify Caucasian Americans on the basis of fear.
Ava Duvernay's documentary" 13th," reiterated how the war on drugs was really a war on Black and Latino men. This documentary also reveals that contrary to popular belief the legislation passed during Bill Clinton Presidency didn't establish justice instead it further fueled the mass incarceration phenomenon that began with with Ronald Regan. I am grateful for this documentary especially how it illuminated the power of the media and how propaganda has effectively promoted fear and as a result of this fear more prisons were built hence the term prison industrial complex. History tends to paint the 13th Amendment as a liberating law yet in actuality it really created a legal loophole to replace plantations with prisons.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DOJOGU1afaz5hyreeP9mjSNuHZdyYVqrVFaZ_pZaRks/edit?usp=drivesdk
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