The 13th film is based on the Thirteenth Amendment and written by Ava Duvernay, the film discusses the crossroads of justice, mass incarceration, and race in the United States. In 1865 the Thirteenth Amendment was passed and slavery was ended, but in this film it talks about the exception clause of the amendment. This clause makes slavery still legal if you have committed a crime, your punishment could be to become a slave. This documentary does a spectacular job showing us how slavery is still connected to our prison and labor systems today and builds on the Black Lives Matter movement. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Slavery was abolished, except for criminals. Duvernay explains how slavery has continued in systems since the end of the Civil War. They continue through police abuse of power (arresting people of lower economic class because of their status), freedmen, and criminalizing behavior. African Americans were arrested for simple things, like walking down the street or standing outside a facility. The documentary expresses concern about mass incarceration and its negative effects on the civil rights movement. The number of incarcerated prisoners began to increase at a slow but steady rate in the 1940s and continued to increase thereafter. When the civil rights movement began there was another large increase in arrests and incarceration rates. When the protesters began to push the political party harder, the political system resisted and returned the favor. 13 shows how much money is actually made from our prison systems and incarceration rates, the film shares an eye-opening statistic, 1 in 17 white Americans will go to prison in their lifetime, where 1 in 3 African Americans will go to prison. prison during their lifetime. This statistic helps demonstrate that racism is still present in our systems. Now that slavery was illegal, white Americans were unhappy about it and did everything in their power to make sure African Americans felt less and ashamed. African Americans were seen as predators and whites took advantage of this, whites began lynching and continued disenfranchisement. Around this time, the War on Drugs began, which put increased pressure on minorities, which also led to increased mass incarceration. African Americans were powerless in the years leading up to the 20th century, they had no say or rights when it came to the political system and whites were at an all time high with their lynchings. We see an example of how little power they have when Emmett Till, a 14-year-old African American boy, was killed and lynched after being in a grocery store and making a woman uncomfortable by his presence there. African Americans were murdered just for the sake of living. In recent years we have discovered that Till was actually innocent, and this situation had never occurred. The 13 disfigures a lot of the truth about history and current situations relating to race and our political/judicial system. Shows great examples of police brutality/corruption, additional information and history of the Black Lives Matter and White Power movement. Duvernay paints a great picture of how protesters play an important role in why we took the steps necessary to get to where we are. It also makes you recognize the power you can have in your voice and perseverance. Watching this documentary and the topics discussed in class, I'm realizing