The new documentary that is buzzing and popular right now on Netflix by Ava DuVernay called the 13th. is excellent.
The film focuses on the 13th amendment being created to guarantee outlaw of slavery with the exception if you are a criminal in America. Yes! If you thought about it, it is true there is a loophole here. The 13th amendment currently leads to the mass incarceration crisis in this country we call “free” today. This is the modern day slavery, wake up! In a country with the highest level of incarceration in the world, existing to mostly put away “criminals”. The system is specifically people of color in state and private systems. As you can imagine, it ruins people’s lives.
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What’s even more disheartening is that it always came down to money. This was the driven force from the start, when slavery was abolished, the south had to figure out a way to balance their economics when they had no slaves to make profit off of. Using the loophole of the 13th amendment law, southerners begin to put blacks in prison for petty crimes and continued to put them in the workforce and in that way without calling them “slaves”. What makes the documentary so provoking is that while it’s historical, there are ties to modern day life, which makes it relevant to what is happening in people of color communities today. It created the feeling that this is not a political or ideological issue-this was, and still is, a human issue.
The film is a must see and highly recommend. The documentary features experts, historians and others that explain the detail of the persecution system right thru the Jim Crow South laws, the Civil Rights movement and up to today’s presidential election. Although there are a lot of people going through in and out of the film, the integration was well connected and is a superb piece. Without getting too political in the film, DuVernay simply explains why the “Black Live Matter” movement is important.
The movement #BlackLivesMatter is not fighting for the equal justice of only Blacks lives, but all lives in the country. You cannot ignore the participants who are involved- the chants, the cries, and social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and media news) on what they are standing for on the issues people of color face every day. Whether you agree or not with their message is up for debate; However, the fact is that they’re here, and they are Woke speaking their minds of what is justice and injustice for those who cannot speak for themselves. Despite different ideological reaction towards the movement, as a nation we must address the issues of discrimination and lets not sugar code it anymore. If we cannot fix it, then let’s talk about it and build awareness among our communities; a conversation is better than the subtle hints. As a nation we cannot ignore the problems people of color face and there must be a change.
