13th

Netflix

                Ava DuVernay is a powerhouse director who is getting a lot of attention and needed admiration thanks to this phenomenal, must-see documentary. I won’t say she was robbed of another Oscar at the 89th Annual Academy Awards, especially because I haven’t seen the 467 minute winner OJ: Made in America, but I will say she would have deserved it. Not only is this film well edited, the interviews engaging, and the subject matter completely covered in a variety of ways, but it is needed viewing for us all. Seriously, if you haven’t seen it, please go watch it. Stop reading this, and go watch it, now. It’s on Netflix.

            The 13th Amendment supposedly freed the slaves. Sadly, it did not, and has not, rendered all American citizens free. The prison industrial complex (a term that is greatly explored in this film) has incarcerated 25% of the entire world’s prisoners just in the US, and most of them are African Americans. In this day and age, where Nazism, white supremacy, and open racism are displayed in our media every day, it’s important for us all to understand that the platitudes and fake equivocations of white America are nothing but excuses for injustice and modern-day slavery. Every facet of this foul system is unearthed, whether we’re talking about police brutality, the history of public lynching, corporate greed in relation to criminal legislation, or the many corporate interests in our prisons. Injustice doesn’t even begin to describe what these prisoners go through, and if you think you know everything about prisons, and what they stand for in our country, you are mistaken.

            A lot will have to change in order to free our fellow Americans: Prisons need to be run fully by the government, mandatory minimums need to be struck down, marijuana needs to be federally legalized, officers of the law need to be held accountable for their behavior, suppositions about black Americans need to be struck down, prison labor needs to be de-monetized, etc. etc. DuVernay also points out that while legislation for corporate prisons has decreased, detention and probationary services are being solely monetized, in part because mass amounts of prisoners are being released. This system is only beneficial to those who profit from servitude. Rehabilitation is the last issue on the table, the last thing anyone should argue in the face of insurmountable evidence that we as a nation are racist and vindictive. I’m glad if you read this in full, but seriously, have you watched this documentary yet? Go watch it, it’s important.