Documentary Review & Recommendation
Written by: Salma Abudagga (Liberal Arts)
Acclaimed African-American filmmaker Ava Duvernay’s documentary The 13th is able to tug at your heart strings and also inform and educate! The 13th offers an in-depth insight on the United States’ prison system and relies on statistics, figures, and anecdotes to reveal the blatant injustices that African Americans fall victim to at the hands of institutionalized racial inequality. Titled after an amendment which outlawed slavery, “except when it seves as punishment for a crime”, the 13th explores the ways in which modern-day slavery and jim crow laws are sustained though mass incarceration of minorities within the United States. DuVernay’s biting expose of the US penal system highlights the irony of the 13th Amendment being a milestone for freedom and abolition of slavery, as its exception invites systematic racial injustice to prevail.
Offering the 13th amendment as a redesign, rather than oblition of, racial caste, this documentary reveals the social concentration of incarceration by highlighting the disproportionate overrepresentation of African Americans within the criminal justice system. DuVernay touches on several aspects–the War on Drugs, the depiction of African Americans as criminal in the pursuit of political campaigning, and the introduction of the Crime Billl– which provided the means and incentives to exert social control over the African American communities. To those looking to educate themselves on the racial injustice in the United States, the Netflix documentary “13th” is a must-watch.
Through imagery, narrative and interviews, DuVernay is able to expose and bring light to the prison problem that your cognitive dissonance allows you to dismiss!
The narrative of racial difference and its manifestations did not die with the implementation of the Civil Rights Act, stream today to overcome your biases and uncover the racial injustices authorized by the 13th Amendment!