Selma director Ava DuVernay returns with a powerful new project, 13Th that hit Netflix streaming this weekend. The documentary appears as if right on cue, in the midst of our current news feeds, #blacklivesmatter movements, the raging presidential debates and a rising generation of youth who grew up disconnected from the civil rights movements that their grandparents marched in and that their parents were constantly reminded of in their own youth.
The film’s very title references the 13th Amendment of the constitution which makes slavery illegal “except as a punishment for crime”. That loophole, of course, has been the detriment to far too many people of color – primary Blacks and Latinos. DuVernay dives deep into the the horrors of how America’s laws and prison system since then have disproportionally affected people of color in the name of politics and financial gain. She presents a compelling story weaving historic (and present day) civil rights images with testimonies from activists, politicians and other relevant figures, including Angela Davis, Henry Louis Gates and Cory Booker – and musical snippets from such artists as Common, Nas and Dead Prez.
DuVernay also names names. She holds nothing back showing how former presidents Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton and their policy strategies helped shape the new conversation around how to keep America viewing blacks as “super predators”. She also calls out private organizations like the American Legislative Exchange Council (made up of politicians and major corporations) who are financially backing and drafting laws that create fiduciary opportunities for the continued criminalization and the overrepresentation of our Black fathers, partners and sons in the system.
If the anecdotes, talking heads and sound bites don’t sink in, the statistics make bare the startling reality. One in three black men will go through the prison system in their lifetime. Only one in 17 White men will face the same fate. Though they account for only 6 percent of the population, Black men account for 42 percent of the prison population.
But 13Th is more than a regurgitation of facts and numbers, it’s an engaging and educational story that frames a conversation long after the credits roll. It not only demands constant retelling until we are all in the know, it also demands a certain kind of intelligible action. One that requires us all to get focused, learn the system and create change.
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