The film The 13th mainly focuses on African-American in the United States (US) or widely known as the black people and also the “super predators”. The main ideas of this film are to emphasize that “Black Live Matters” and to reveal the hidden truth of society towards the African-American especially regarding mass incarceration in the country. According to Ava DuVerney (2016) who is the director of The 13th, the film exposes that “mass incarceration is the extension of slavery”. Relating to the historical context of the African-American in the US, they were treated as slaves who had less human right than they deserved. They are often times being framed by the authorities as “criminals”, which causes the ignorant society to fear them. The most relatable content obtained in this course from the film was how the media played an important role in influencing the society. A clear example is the way the media portrays black people, even until now. Since a long time ago, the media used value-laden languages to deliver news such as calling the black criminals as “super predators”. Other than that, the media was clearly biased towards certain aspect of crime for example drugs. The war on drugs was actually another representation of the war on black people or people of color. Although the 13th Amendment ended slavery, the mass incarceration towards black people from minor crimes until the use of drugs was actually extending “slavery”.
However, I believe that the filmmaker did not present the topic fairly to all side because they left out many organizations or teams who also supported “Black Live Matters” for example the Macklemore’s team who called white people to live an anti-racist life. Despite how important they felt to focus on the issue of black lives, they should not leave out those who did show support. Sometimes, it is not that the white people are not helping the black people to strive for equal rights but it is also because their powers are limited and that is why this topic has been overlooked for a long time. The film proved that since decades ago when a black man was leading his community to strive for equal rights among black people, he was killed in his house by police officers and not to forget, Martin Luther King Jr. who was a leader for the Civil Right Movement was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee (A+E Networks, 2009). All these cases showed how hard it was for black people to stand up for their right because there would be the white supremacy who prevents them from fighting for what they deserved.
The content in this film could be related to the sociological theories from the textbook Criminology: A Sociological Understanding. The first theory is the emphasis on social structure from Chapter 7. If we realize the social structure of the black people from the beginning, they were treated as slaves who lived in poor areas and even after the 13th Amendment, they had to rebuild the economy in the South by providing labor. They still did not receive equal rights although according to DuVernay, the 13th Amendment stated that no one should be treated as a slave except as for a punishment for crime. Since after the Civil War, numerous black people were convicted for crime even for very minor mistake such as loitering. This proves that the freedom was not actually given for the black people indeed they were still treated as slaves in a different way, by being labeled as crimes. Based on the anomie and strain theory, one of the adaptations to anomie is conformity, which means most poor people continue to be law-abiding members of society. This contradicts to what the media portrays the black people; as criminals who takes away the country’s peace. This theory helps to develop a better understanding of the cause of crime, since the social structure plays an important role.
The second theory related to this film is the critical perspective from Chapter 9 or also known as social reaction theories. If we look into the consensus and conflict perspective in sociology, we find out that in the film, a conflict perspective is presented by the sentencing disparity between crack and cocaine that became a question among people. Despite them being almost the same on a molecular level (Kulze, 2015), the punishment differs greatly. A person who possesses crack will be sentenced at a longer period compared to a person who possesses cocaine for the same amount. This is mainly because the crack users are mostly black people and the mass incarceration that occurred against drug is actually another form of putting black people into prison to be convicted as criminals. The limitation of this theory is the ability of the black people to fight for equality since they remain powerless in the society. Although they know that crack and cocaine are not much of a difference, they could not fight against the sentence because of their race. This theory gives a better understanding that not all perspective are consensus therefore multiple aspects must be taken account for before making a decision especially that affects the sociological sense of a community.
A policy that I would make is to ban profit-based prisons. Instead, prisons are built for people who convicted crimes and not for those who are being set up or forced to be in prison. This decision will ensure justice among the community and also produce a safer place. Although this will impact the country’s economy, I believe that within a few years of this policy being enacted, the economic growth of the USA will increase again because of the production of quality citizens who are not rebellious towards the system. Although a reformation is not something easy, it is still possible because in order to see a change of a sick system and society, a reformation must be done. The reformation must emphasize on equality of all citizens, human rights, and a fair criminal justice system in order to produce a developed country with citizens who knows what acceptance and tolerance are.
Citations
A. (Ed.). (2009). Dr. King is assassinated. Retrieved April 24, 2017, from http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/dr-king-is-assassinated
Butler, B. (2016, October 06). Ava DuVernay’s Netflix film ’13th’ reveals how mass incarceration is an extension of slavery. Retrieved April 24, 2017, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2016/10/06/ava-duvernays-netflix-film-13th-reveals-how-mass-incarceration-is-an-extension-of-slavery/?utm_term=.7143426fb627
Kim, K. Y. (2016, October 20). Ava DuVernay's Documentary '13th' Is the Most Important Movie You'll See This Year. Retrieved April 24, 2017, from http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2016/10/ava-duvernay-13th-documentary-most-important-movie-of-the-year
Kulze, E. (2016, June 23). How Crack Vs. Coke Sentencing Unfairly Targets Poor People. Retrieved April 24, 2017, from http://www.vocativ.com/underworld/drugs/crack-vs-coke-sentencing/
Workneh, L. (2016, October 09). Ava DuVernay's '13th' Explores The Evolution Of The U.S. Prison System. Retrieved April 24, 2017, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ava-duvernays-13th-explores-the-evolution-of-the-us-prison-system_us_57f7ddfee4b0e655eab3d99b