On Monday, November 12th, I watched a documentary called, “13th.” The film was played in Skye Lounge as a part of Geneva’s Justice Week, which focused on the mass incarceration of African Americans. 13th is a 2016 American documentary directed by Ava DuVernay. It is titled after the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which freed the slaves and prohibited slavery except slavery used as a punishment for a crime. In this film, “scholars, activists, and politicians analyze the criminalization of African Americans and take on in-depth look at the U.S. prison boom” (Netflix description). DuVernay argues that slavery has been continued in practices since the end of the American Civil War. Slavery was considered an economic system. Those who owned slaves made profit of their labor. This form of labor at the time fueled America’s economy.
Once the 13th amendment was established, it granted the freedom of all Americans, crippling America’s economy. In order for the economy to be rebuilt, certain Americans saw fit to arrest poor freedmen in masses and force them to work for the state under convict leasing. Throughout the 20th century, society perfected new methods of detaining the African American community through such actions as suppressing African Americans by disenfranchisement, lynching’s, Jim Crow; politicians declaring a war on drugs that weigh more heavily on minority communities, and then by the late 20th century, the mass incarceration of people of color in the United States. DuVernay also examines the prison-industrial complex and the emerging detention-industrial complex, illustrating how much money corporations generate from such incarcerations.
The film itself is a form of cultural keeping and making. It is cultural keeping in the way the film is preserving the history of the average African American. Instead of casting aside the significant and vital events of black history, DuVernay decided to create a film dedicated to protecting the African American identity and our history.
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13th is a form of cultural making in that the documentary is a new form of media designed to inform the public of current issues we see today. Essentially, the current issues we see today between Caucasians and African Americans can be explained by looking at the history of black people. Dr. Jelani Cobb, director of African American studies at the University of Connecticut said, “if you look at the history of black peoples’ various struggles in this country, the connecting themes is the attempt to be understood as full, complicated human beings” (Cobb, 5:45). For years, blacks have been associated with these visceral images of criminality, menaces and threats. These false identities were created by the fear and inhumane nature of the white community. By repeatedly enforcing these stereotypes throughout the media, society associated blacks with these crimes, making it easier for them to be guilty and sent to prison. In other words, a whole community “educated a world over decades to believe that blacks were criminals.” Perhaps by looking at this film, Americans can find ways of bridging the tension between people of color and whites. Understanding that blacks have been falsely identified as individuals could essentially promote others and African Americans to change the perspective of blacks in America. It could also cause people to address and fix issues that caused African Americans to be incarcerated (e.g. political leadership, housing, legislative bills, etc.).
While this film shows how unjust a system has been to African Americans throughout history, it also informs us of the behaviors we should not learn. In order to keep the black community in line, whites used forms of violence and terror. Whether it was through authoritative personnel, lynching’s, beatings, rape, death threats to individuals and their families or sending individuals out of the country, whites made sure that uprisings did not occur, so that they could remain in power. Because of such behavior, these individuals forced families to be broken, innocent men and women to go to prison, children left without their mothers or fathers and a community left without any leaders to defend itself. In the eyes of God, this behavior is frowned upon. Instead of behaving like this, we should act as doxological agents and “pursue things which make for peace and the building up of one another” (Romans 14:19). Once we learn to do this, we shall “be made complete, be comforted, and the God of love and peace shall be within us” (2 Corinthians 13:11).
After watching “13th”, I took away several big concepts. The biggest outcome from watching this film was that I enhanced the understanding of my own history. Not only did I learn more about my own history, but I realized how “messed up” America really is. We live in a nation that stands for “the land of the free” however America has the highest rate of incarceration in the world and makes up for 25% of the total population in prison. As Americans, we should be appalled by such a statistic. This “ahh ha” moment opened my eyes to the devil’s work on fear. The reason why so many African Americans are incarcerated now is due to fear. As doxological agents, we must understand that fear is an illusion best used by Satan. God did not give us a spirit of fear but love. Love is the ultimate weapon when fighting it. From watching this film, it made me understand that the best way to fight issues such as racism, hate and fear is love.
