So far the video has been fascinating and eye-opening. I have learned about the series of events that have led to where we are today as a nation. The different laws that come and gone through the system have had roots from the civil war. When the civil war ended, there were thousands of African Americans that were freed, because all of these slaves were freed, the economy in the south fell apart because slaves had such a key role in their economy. There was a loophole in the 13th amendment though. The loophole is where it says no slavery except in the case of punishment. So that is what they did. They started arresting African Americans for petty stuff that does not warrant arrest so they can be enslaved again. The African Americans that were enslaved virtually rebuilt the southern economy. Jail and prison became the new slavery because they had to work while they were incarcerated.- Legion001
So far, the video has been really informative about going into depth as to why we have mass incarceration today. I really like how the video started out with Barack Obama giving the quote “The United States has 5% of the world’s population, but 25% of the prisoner population in the world. This quote set the platform as to why our prisons are over incarcerated. One of these reasons said in the video is the heroin epidemic when Nixon was in and coining the term “War on Drugs.” This term may have started with Nixon, but it carried over to Reagan, Bush, and Clinton’s terms. All of these presidents had an influence as to why our prisoners are over incarcerated today. The mandatory minimum law in my opinion was the worst thing that could ever happen to our country. I think Clinton wanted to put this in to threaten people first off, and then to get people’s vote by showing he was “tough on crime.” This obviously backfired and put our criminal justice system in a hole, because Clinton wanted to make himself look better. -lilbaby001
After watching this film I feel like I have a better understanding of the history in the united states. I didn’t know that we made so many mistakes for so many years after giving everyone equal rights. I think that a lot of things done by presidents was racist, but they made it look like something else. Clinton had the three strikes policy and that obviously didn’t work at all. I didn’t think his policy was legit, because he waited to make it when Hillary was about to run for office. I think that he did that just to give Hillary a better chance at winning. Obama had some really good ideas for the prison population, and seems like he’s actually interested in making a change. Celtics001
From what has been seen so far in this movie it has been shocking but also have a greater knowledge of how politics drove our country into mass incarceration. The get tough on crime laws caused presidents to feed off of each others political campaigns and drive tougher mandatory minimums into our court systems. Viewing this movie from the perspective as an informed citizen it completely changes the view, you are able to understand much more about the racism that was still present in our country at the time. As the movie said, the politicians still said racist things but put them into code that does not come across as racist and won the votes of the south. The corruption beneath all of the politics still was led by racism even after our country outlawed it and echoed many years down the road. While the movie is not finished I believe there can be a lot learned about law making regarding criminal justice and how detrimental it can be when those laws backfire. -Blues001
This film is a great example of the power media holds over our country. Not just today, in 2019, but even all the way back during Nixon's presidential election. Nixon coined the term, "war on drugs," which ultimately led to the temporary demise of our prison system in America. True agendas were masked by this idea of a war on drugs, and getting tough on crime for years worth of presidencies. Nixon, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton all had exterior motives behind who they were actually trying to incarcerate. It wasn't just about drugs, it was about race, socioeconomic status, and getting votes. -psych001
As far as we had gotten, this video has been very interesting. I had always knew that the 13th amendment was being taken advantage of when speaking about involuntary labor and prisons. I did not really put the pieces together that when the civil war ended was the first prisons first big boom. It is very interesting to learn every political aspect behind what candidates will say during their run for office. It almost always seems that the truth does not come out until it is to late. To me, the war on drugs seems used as a political tool to get votes. To fear the common man into thinking that the other candidate would let killers and rapists run around your neighborhood. Throughout the years it all seems similar just worded differently or used differently. So far I have learned that everyone has their own reasonings as to why they would push for a new law. Jackrabbit001
This Netflix documentary talks about how the War on Drugs was born and how it unfairly targets minorities. Those who use cocaine are less likely to get a harsh punishment than those who use crack cocaine. Although they are the same drug, crack is punished more harshly than powder cocaine. Legislation made laws against crack in order to stop the cocaine epidemic, but what they really did was cause sentencing disparities. Crack is cheaper to come by than powder, so poorer communities were more likely to use that, AKA minorities. This led to the persecution of blacks and hispanics. Although some politicians say they did not mean for this to happen (Bill Clinton, for example - who apologized after he realized what he had done), the effects are still present today and one man even admitted that some politicians knew what they were doing at the time, which absolutely disgusted me. -Reid001
One of the big things that they pointed out in this documentary was the introduction to the War on Drugs. The War on Drugs was first introduced by President Nixon and later on going in effect by Reagan. However they were only going after people who were so dependent on drugs and charging them as criminals rather than getting them help. Bill Clinton had passed a Crime Bill in 1994 that he later admitted was a mistake. It's good that he took responsibility. The documentary has referenced many historical events that led up to today. It was really unfair how people back then depicted African Americans as criminals. Even during the times after the Civil War African Americans were still being treated unfairly by others. It was almost as if they were not actually free. -Ram001
Although this video is very one sided, it definitely shifted my thoughts about a lot. First off, Donald Trump’s quotes in this video disgust me. I have never disliked Donald Trump until I heard what he said. One of the things he was talking about was “the good old days.” To me, this is just arrogance in itself, and this arrogant man is running our country. He may be politically intelligent, but I really do not think that he is well informed about criminal justice reform. One other thing that stood out to me that isn’t even mentioned in the book is ALEC. ALEC stands for American Legislative Exchange Council. This group influences legislation that will end result in support for the businesses they have contracts with. It is interesting how this organization proposed the three strike laws, mandatory minimums, and truth in sentencing when their contracts are with privately operated companies that provide to public prisons. So basically, they want more people in prison ignoring mass incarceration so they can make more money, and their contractors can make more money. I also think it is interesting that ALEC influenced the Stand Your Ground that is publically known in the Trayvon Martin case. In this video, they claim that ALEC influenced this bill in legislation to increase gun sales. ALEC partners with Walmart, which Walmart is the #1 in gun sales making ALEC money. Overall, this video was very powerful and honestly it was too much to take in at one time. I think it will take me two or three times to watch it and fully understand all the information presented. With this being said, I learned an absolute ton from this video. -lilbaby001
The documentary 13th was about the thirteenth amendment. It was specifically about the “loophole” in the thirteenth amendment that says that you can only be enslaved if you are being punished for a crime. The thirteenth amendment abolished slavery which is good, but the people that made this documentary were saying that they put a “loophole” into the amendment so that they can continue to enslave African Americans. They took us back to the end of the Civil War when this amendment came out. It freed the slaves, but because of that “loophole” the African American community was still being enslaved. While they were free, they were getting put into jails and prisons for minor crimes or being falsely accused of crimes. Once they were in jail or prison, they would be put to work rebuilding the southern economy because the economy had crashed because they could no longer have slave labor. Then they talked about the war on drugs and the war on poverty that has started this mass incarceration of humans specifically within the African American community. Mandatory minimums and truth in sentencing laws really started this mass incarceration because people were being put into jail or prison for petty crimes or crimes that do not warrant such long terms incarcerated. The sad part about all of this is a lot of people supported it because at the time it seemed like the right thing to do to help prevent crime. Well, these laws have absolutely ravished the African American communities because families were being torn apart because their family members were being locked up for long periods of time. Something that really stuck out to me was that in the documentary Bill Clinton publicly apologized for putting these laws into place because now as we look back at them, they have done a lot of harm to America.-Legion001
Despite being very one-sided, this documentary is informative to say the least. It claims that racism in the United States is just as prevalent as it was during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and that it has just taken on a new form. That new form being criminalization. Changes in legislation indirectly targeted African-Americans throughout history. From freed slaves that were unnecessarily criminalized, to Jim Crow, and according to the doc, the war on drugs. All of which, have clogged the modern prison system with prisoners who don’t belong there. Not only did these laws incriminate African-Americans, but it labeled them as criminals amongst the public. The doc chronicles the war on drugs from president Nixon's campaign through today, and I found the audio file of a member of Nixon’s administration labeling African Americans and the “anti war left” as their enemy, eye opening. I was completely unaware of A.L.E.C., the American Legislative Exchange Council, until I saw this. I believe that the government and corporations should act as their own separate bodies, and the documentary confirms it for me. A.L.E.C. is a coalition of right legislators and corporate representatives that form bills that benefit themselves. The infamous three strikes law, eighty five percent truth in sentencing, and the crack sentencing disparity were the results of A.L.E.C.. These laws, according to the doc, incriminated African-Americans and Latinos alike causing prison populations to skyrocket with a strong racial disparity. I found it astonishing that Bill Clinton apologized for enacting those pieces of legislation, acknowledging that doing so was the wrong decision. Private prisons are not helping to alleviate the issue. In order to turn profit they need to keep their beds full, so they want nothing to do with lowering incarceration rates. A few of such private prison corporations are apart of A.L.E.C. to purposely make matters worse. Starwars001
I thought it was interesting how right at the start of the film, the narrators examine the full 13th amendment and explained how slavery is still possible in a racist criminal justice system. The film then talked about the time briefly after the civil war when slavery was thought to have ended, but it goes into details about how african americans were still treated incredibly poorly. I thought these were interesting because I wasn’t aware of all these specifics. For example the film mentions another film entitled ‘The Birth of a Nation’ which was a blockbuster hit which promoted the idea that all blacks are rapists, which is obviously not true. It also showed many photos and clips of african americans being discriminated against just for existing and it was very eye opening. The film then moves on to the topic of mass incarceration and I thought it was interesting that it showed so many different clips of President Nixon making claims about how crime and drugs were the biggest threat to the country. The film then discusses the tactics used by Nixon to arrest african americans and those against war. He categorized hippies with marijuana and african americans with heroin, then criminalized these drugs therefore arresting Nixon’s actual enemies. I have never thought of his war on drugs stance like this before. One aspect that I think would have strengthened this film was for it to not be so one-sided. I don’t have a problem with the stance of the film, but it would be better if they were to address a counterargument with a rebuttal. For example, it would have helped if the film discussed the fact that drugs are responsible for millions of american deaths which heavily contributed to the war on drugs. Similarly, the film hits the topic of mass incarceration hard and heavily focuses on how fear of crime is a terrible thing. In terms of Nixon’s and Bush’s “Fear of Crime” the film is correct in saying it is a bad thing, but the film never touches on the fact that a lot of people are in prison because they deserve to be. Again, the arguments in this film would be strengthened by bringing light to counter arguments and he rebuting them. I thought it was great how the film was displayed as a timeline, starting with post civil war america, then going into the various presidents who impacted the war on drugs/ mass incarceration and showing their specific policies all in order. Another thing that I thought was especially interesting was when a man being interviewed says, “We shouldn’t ask ‘Why is Bill Clinton so strong?’ We should ask, ‘Why is the black community so weak in our inability to defend ourselves?’” He then goes on to explain how african americans and their leaders have been enslaved, segregated, beaten, and martyred just for the color of their skin and it makes a lot of sense. The film also showed a picture of a newspaper which displayed the FBI calling Martin Luther King the most notorious liar in the country. This was very eye opening because I always think of Dr. King as a popular and overall well-loved and well-respected character, but that was quite the opposite during his era. I also thought the whole section of George Zimmerman was interesting because of how recent it was and how Zimmerman almost got away with a such a racist act only 7 years ago. Overall, it was a very informative and film. I learned multiple thing from specific civil rights leaders to ALEC, the whole film was very interesting. -Drums001
The remaining segment of the documentary 13th kept the same overall tone that it had when it started but it began to explain something quite interesting. The interesting group the movie began to discuss was the company called ALEC. Alec stands for American Legislative Exchange Council and the reason why so many corporations used to back this council was because if a corporation supported them, they would have a say in the making of new laws which could benefit them. The issue of interpretations having a say in what laws are pushed through was detrimental to out countries incarceration rates. An example of this problematic situation is how the Corrections Corporation of America was funding ALEC, and they were one of the first private prison corporations. The underlying problem is that they were a private prison corporation, which fueled a higher incarceration rate due to the desire to imprison more people in order to keep receiving more money. One other issue I pulled from the video was the concept of plea bargains regarding the court systems and how that also drives incarcerations rates even further. Plea bargains are generally used by those who are not guilty of a crime as a way to avoid a long sentence due to the fear of jail and prison. Falsely admitting guilt to a crime you did not commit just because the fear of being sent away for a long time is just wrong and compounds onto mass incarceration. While the entire film was based around the thirteenth amendment and racial disparities, it was very well orchestrated when shedding light to other detrimental factors to our laws and incarceration rates. There was a lot to take away from this film, not only the progression of our laws and our racial disparity that is still present but what councils and other factors influenced in creating our laws that caused our sky rocketing incarceration rates. -Blues001
This was my first time seeing this movie and i have to say I am still shocked by it and also saddened. I never knew about the loophole in the 13th amendment that your free except if your a “criminal”. Seeing how african americans were supposed to be free, but still getting picked up on petty crimes which considered them not free is sad. If you think about it once they were free they had no money, food, shelter, so the petty crimes they were committing were most likely not even crimes but because of the circumstances they were locked up and still considered slaves when they should have been totally free. I thought it was interesting that the government and the FBI considered activist such as Angela Davis, Fred hampton, and others to be considered armed and dangerous. However the truth isI don't believe those same people who considered them “dangerous” were ready for the truth they were saying. They most likely couldn't handle a black group coming together doing and saying what's right. To them that is a threat they were not ready for so they had to be stopped and dismantled. The war on drugs started with Nixon and so forth, this led to mass incarceration which also resulted in racial disparity. People of color were getting incarcerated far more than other races. For example the disparity with crack and cocaine. Possession of cocaine was a simple “slap on the wrist” however, if you were caught with crack the punishment was far worse. Crack was a lot cheaper than cocaine that is one reason why people of color were getting locked up for it. They most likely did not have the funds or access to obtain cocaine. Police always targeted the areas with colored people than any other area. Mandatory minimums, three strikes your out, and also truth in sentencing were other reasons that led to the mass incarceration of Africans Americans and Hispanics. Lawmakers and politicians were making certain laws for political means and also because they knew that's what the public wanted. They wanted to stay in office or win the election so they did what they thought was right. While doing what they thought was right it cost a lot of people their life in prisons When Bill Clinton apologized he understood that his bill for more funding for prisons did more harm than good. Thinking about free labor I never really thought about prisoners are exploited right here at home by doing free labor. The average minimum wage they are paid is 86 cents, they were making items for big name stores such as JCPenny and Victoria Secret also, harvesting potatoes for Idaho Potatoes. When this brought to attention JCPenney and VS eventually switched manufactures. It was shocking to see that only 97% that are locked up actually took a plea bargain and didnt have a trial. The people that took the plea deals knew they would be facing more time if they went to trial. Although a trial is apart of your rights it's almost considered a punishment of some sort if you go to trial and, the punishment is more time than what your being offered in the plea bargain -21Aries001
“Wow” is the first word that comes to mind after watching the documentary 13th. There were already quite a few issues that I was aware of with corrections that were addressed in the film, but they brought many more to light that I didn’t even know existed. We already know that the United States locks up the most people in the world, but the film answered the question of “why” this is in great detail. Each inmate comes with a price tag and makes someone else rich. This is not just referring to the private prison industry, but this is also referring to the other corporations that are involved in the prison system. From phones to bail there is money to be made, and so long as people are getting locked up, these people are getting payed. If that’s not bad enough, the quality of “service” is appalling to say the least. There was a story of food having maggots in it on numerous occasions. This is because there is no real need to provide good service for those who have been locked up. Mainly for the fact that they have few rights and are rarely heard. It’s all about money. Even the one guy who owned a bail company stated that so long as he’s getting our family members out of jail, “… you don’t mind me making a buck”. This can be credited to ALEC and all that they have done to manipulate various bills and laws. This was my very first-time hearing about ALEC and what all they do. They are a group of large corporations that work right alongside with politicians to push bills and laws that they want to have passed. They are able to push their own agenda to make money off of the laws “created” by our politicians. One such case is for the bill SB1070 which grants law enforcement to arrest anyone who looks like an immigrant and put them into detention centers. This is literally racism. Targeting a specific group of people simply because of how they look and punishing them for it. Adults aren’t the only ones getting arrested, children are being locked up as well. All for the sake of a little extra cash. It disgusts me to see how little life is actually valued by such greedy and pompous people. The truth is, these businesses don’t want change or reform. The second recidivism goes down, and people are finally able to live their lives, these businessmen start losing money. Something else that I appreciate about the film was its overall authenticity towards these various issues. They didn’t shy away from showing the unjust and grotesque treatment of the African American communities and the now growing prison populations. Once someone is labeled a felon, they are treated less than human. They still have limited rights though they are out of prison. Many businesses won’t employ them. This all can lead to recidivism which means more people are making money off of them. I hope that more people begin to research this topic to raise awareness towards the issue. Changes need to be made to the system and soon. Sexy_in_Bikini001
So far the video has been fascinating and eye-opening. I have learned about the series of events that have led to where we are today as a nation. The different laws that come and gone through the system have had roots from the civil war. When the civil war ended, there were thousands of African Americans that were freed, because all of these slaves were freed, the economy in the south fell apart because slaves had such a key role in their economy. There was a loophole in the 13th amendment though. The loophole is where it says no slavery except in the case of punishment. So that is what they did. They started arresting African Americans for petty stuff that does not warrant arrest so they can be enslaved again. The African Americans that were enslaved virtually rebuilt the southern economy. Jail and prison became the new slavery because they had to work while they were incarcerated.- Legion001
ReplyDeleteSo far, the video has been really informative about going into depth as to why we have mass incarceration today. I really like how the video started out with Barack Obama giving the quote “The United States has 5% of the world’s population, but 25% of the prisoner population in the world. This quote set the platform as to why our prisons are over incarcerated. One of these reasons said in the video is the heroin epidemic when Nixon was in and coining the term “War on Drugs.” This term may have started with Nixon, but it carried over to Reagan, Bush, and Clinton’s terms. All of these presidents had an influence as to why our prisoners are over incarcerated today. The mandatory minimum law in my opinion was the worst thing that could ever happen to our country. I think Clinton wanted to put this in to threaten people first off, and then to get people’s vote by showing he was “tough on crime.” This obviously backfired and put our criminal justice system in a hole, because Clinton wanted to make himself look better. -lilbaby001
ReplyDeleteAfter watching this film I feel like I have a better understanding of the history in the united states. I didn’t know that we made so many mistakes for so many years after giving everyone equal rights. I think that a lot of things done by presidents was racist, but they made it look like something else. Clinton had the three strikes policy and that obviously didn’t work at all. I didn’t think his policy was legit, because he waited to make it when Hillary was about to run for office. I think that he did that just to give Hillary a better chance at winning. Obama had some really good ideas for the prison population, and seems like he’s actually interested in making a change. Celtics001
ReplyDeleteFrom what has been seen so far in this movie it has been shocking but also have a greater knowledge of how politics drove our country into mass incarceration. The get tough on crime laws caused presidents to feed off of each others political campaigns and drive tougher mandatory minimums into our court systems. Viewing this movie from the perspective as an informed citizen it completely changes the view, you are able to understand much more about the racism that was still present in our country at the time. As the movie said, the politicians still said racist things but put them into code that does not come across as racist and won the votes of the south. The corruption beneath all of the politics still was led by racism even after our country outlawed it and echoed many years down the road. While the movie is not finished I believe there can be a lot learned about law making regarding criminal justice and how detrimental it can be when those laws backfire. -Blues001
ReplyDeleteThis film is a great example of the power media holds over our country. Not just today, in 2019, but even all the way back during Nixon's presidential election. Nixon coined the term, "war on drugs," which ultimately led to the temporary demise of our prison system in America. True agendas were masked by this idea of a war on drugs, and getting tough on crime for years worth of presidencies. Nixon, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton all had exterior motives behind who they were actually trying to incarcerate. It wasn't just about drugs, it was about race, socioeconomic status, and getting votes. -psych001
ReplyDeleteAs far as we had gotten, this video has been very interesting. I had always knew that the 13th amendment was being taken advantage of when speaking about involuntary labor and prisons. I did not really put the pieces together that when the civil war ended was the first prisons first big boom. It is very interesting to learn every political aspect behind what candidates will say during their run for office. It almost always seems that the truth does not come out until it is to late. To me, the war on drugs seems used as a political tool to get votes. To fear the common man into thinking that the other candidate would let killers and rapists run around your neighborhood. Throughout the years it all seems similar just worded differently or used differently. So far I have learned that everyone has their own reasonings as to why they would push for a new law. Jackrabbit001
ReplyDeleteThis Netflix documentary talks about how the War on Drugs was born and how it unfairly targets minorities. Those who use cocaine are less likely to get a harsh punishment than those who use crack cocaine. Although they are the same drug, crack is punished more harshly than powder cocaine. Legislation made laws against crack in order to stop the cocaine epidemic, but what they really did was cause sentencing disparities. Crack is cheaper to come by than powder, so poorer communities were more likely to use that, AKA minorities. This led to the persecution of blacks and hispanics. Although some politicians say they did not mean for this to happen (Bill Clinton, for example - who apologized after he realized what he had done), the effects are still present today and one man even admitted that some politicians knew what they were doing at the time, which absolutely disgusted me.
ReplyDelete-Reid001
One of the big things that they pointed out in this documentary was the introduction to the War on Drugs. The War on Drugs was first introduced by President Nixon and later on going in effect by Reagan. However they were only going after people who were so dependent on drugs and charging them as criminals rather than getting them help. Bill Clinton had passed a Crime Bill in 1994 that he later admitted was a mistake. It's good that he took responsibility. The documentary has referenced many historical events that led up to today. It was really unfair how people back then depicted African Americans as criminals. Even during the times after the Civil War African Americans were still being treated unfairly by others. It was almost as if they were not actually free.
ReplyDelete-Ram001
Although this video is very one sided, it definitely shifted my thoughts about a lot. First off, Donald Trump’s quotes in this video disgust me. I have never disliked Donald Trump until I heard what he said. One of the things he was talking about was “the good old days.” To me, this is just arrogance in itself, and this arrogant man is running our country. He may be politically intelligent, but I really do not think that he is well informed about criminal justice reform. One other thing that stood out to me that isn’t even mentioned in the book is ALEC. ALEC stands for American Legislative Exchange Council. This group influences legislation that will end result in support for the businesses they have contracts with. It is interesting how this organization proposed the three strike laws, mandatory minimums, and truth in sentencing when their contracts are with privately operated companies that provide to public prisons. So basically, they want more people in prison ignoring mass incarceration so they can make more money, and their contractors can make more money. I also think it is interesting that ALEC influenced the Stand Your Ground that is publically known in the Trayvon Martin case. In this video, they claim that ALEC influenced this bill in legislation to increase gun sales. ALEC partners with Walmart, which Walmart is the #1 in gun sales making ALEC money. Overall, this video was very powerful and honestly it was too much to take in at one time. I think it will take me two or three times to watch it and fully understand all the information presented. With this being said, I learned an absolute ton from this video. -lilbaby001
ReplyDeleteThe documentary 13th was about the thirteenth amendment. It was specifically about the “loophole” in the thirteenth amendment that says that you can only be enslaved if you are being punished for a crime. The thirteenth amendment abolished slavery which is good, but the people that made this documentary were saying that they put a “loophole” into the amendment so that they can continue to enslave African Americans. They took us back to the end of the Civil War when this amendment came out. It freed the slaves, but because of that “loophole” the African American community was still being enslaved. While they were free, they were getting put into jails and prisons for minor crimes or being falsely accused of crimes. Once they were in jail or prison, they would be put to work rebuilding the southern economy because the economy had crashed because they could no longer have slave labor. Then they talked about the war on drugs and the war on poverty that has started this mass incarceration of humans specifically within the African American community. Mandatory minimums and truth in sentencing laws really started this mass incarceration because people were being put into jail or prison for petty crimes or crimes that do not warrant such long terms incarcerated. The sad part about all of this is a lot of people supported it because at the time it seemed like the right thing to do to help prevent crime. Well, these laws have absolutely ravished the African American communities because families were being torn apart because their family members were being locked up for long periods of time. Something that really stuck out to me was that in the documentary Bill Clinton publicly apologized for putting these laws into place because now as we look back at them, they have done a lot of harm to America.-Legion001
ReplyDeleteDespite being very one-sided, this documentary is informative to say the least. It claims that racism in the United States is just as prevalent as it was during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and that it has just taken on a new form. That new form being criminalization. Changes in legislation indirectly targeted African-Americans throughout history. From freed slaves that were unnecessarily criminalized, to Jim Crow, and according to the doc, the war on drugs. All of which, have clogged the modern prison system with prisoners who don’t belong there. Not only did these laws incriminate African-Americans, but it labeled them as criminals amongst the public. The doc chronicles the war on drugs from president Nixon's campaign through today, and I found the audio file of a member of Nixon’s administration labeling African Americans and the “anti war left” as their enemy, eye opening.
ReplyDeleteI was completely unaware of A.L.E.C., the American Legislative Exchange Council, until I saw this. I believe that the government and corporations should act as their own separate bodies, and the documentary confirms it for me. A.L.E.C. is a coalition of right legislators and corporate representatives that form bills that benefit themselves. The infamous three strikes law, eighty five percent truth in sentencing, and the crack sentencing disparity were the results of A.L.E.C.. These laws, according to the doc, incriminated African-Americans and Latinos alike causing prison populations to skyrocket with a strong racial disparity. I found it astonishing that Bill Clinton apologized for enacting those pieces of legislation, acknowledging that doing so was the wrong decision. Private prisons are not helping to alleviate the issue. In order to turn profit they need to keep their beds full, so they want nothing to do with lowering incarceration rates. A few of such private prison corporations are apart of A.L.E.C. to purposely make matters worse.
Starwars001
I thought it was interesting how right at the start of the film, the narrators examine the full 13th amendment and explained how slavery is still possible in a racist criminal justice system. The film then talked about the time briefly after the civil war when slavery was thought to have ended, but it goes into details about how african americans were still treated incredibly poorly. I thought these were interesting because I wasn’t aware of all these specifics. For example the film mentions another film entitled ‘The Birth of a Nation’ which was a blockbuster hit which promoted the idea that all blacks are rapists, which is obviously not true. It also showed many photos and clips of african americans being discriminated against just for existing and it was very eye opening. The film then moves on to the topic of mass incarceration and I thought it was interesting that it showed so many different clips of President Nixon making claims about how crime and drugs were the biggest threat to the country. The film then discusses the tactics used by Nixon to arrest african americans and those against war. He categorized hippies with marijuana and african americans with heroin, then criminalized these drugs therefore arresting Nixon’s actual enemies. I have never thought of his war on drugs stance like this before. One aspect that I think would have strengthened this film was for it to not be so one-sided. I don’t have a problem with the stance of the film, but it would be better if they were to address a counterargument with a rebuttal. For example, it would have helped if the film discussed the fact that drugs are responsible for millions of american deaths which heavily contributed to the war on drugs. Similarly, the film hits the topic of mass incarceration hard and heavily focuses on how fear of crime is a terrible thing. In terms of Nixon’s and Bush’s “Fear of Crime” the film is correct in saying it is a bad thing, but the film never touches on the fact that a lot of people are in prison because they deserve to be. Again, the arguments in this film would be strengthened by bringing light to counter arguments and he rebuting them. I thought it was great how the film was displayed as a timeline, starting with post civil war america, then going into the various presidents who impacted the war on drugs/ mass incarceration and showing their specific policies all in order. Another thing that I thought was especially interesting was when a man being interviewed says, “We shouldn’t ask ‘Why is Bill Clinton so strong?’ We should ask, ‘Why is the black community so weak in our inability to defend ourselves?’” He then goes on to explain how african americans and their leaders have been enslaved, segregated, beaten, and martyred just for the color of their skin and it makes a lot of sense. The film also showed a picture of a newspaper which displayed the FBI calling Martin Luther King the most notorious liar in the country. This was very eye opening because I always think of Dr. King as a popular and overall well-loved and well-respected character, but that was quite the opposite during his era. I also thought the whole section of George Zimmerman was interesting because of how recent it was and how Zimmerman almost got away with a such a racist act only 7 years ago. Overall, it was a very informative and film. I learned multiple thing from specific civil rights leaders to ALEC, the whole film was very interesting.
ReplyDelete-Drums001
The remaining segment of the documentary 13th kept the same overall tone that it had when it started but it began to explain something quite interesting. The interesting group the movie began to discuss was the company called ALEC. Alec stands for American Legislative Exchange Council and the reason why so many corporations used to back this council was because if a corporation supported them, they would have a say in the making of new laws which could benefit them. The issue of interpretations having a say in what laws are pushed through was detrimental to out countries incarceration rates. An example of this problematic situation is how the Corrections Corporation of America was funding ALEC, and they were one of the first private prison corporations. The underlying problem is that they were a private prison corporation, which fueled a higher incarceration rate due to the desire to imprison more people in order to keep receiving more money. One other issue I pulled from the video was the concept of plea bargains regarding the court systems and how that also drives incarcerations rates even further. Plea bargains are generally used by those who are not guilty of a crime as a way to avoid a long sentence due to the fear of jail and prison. Falsely admitting guilt to a crime you did not commit just because the fear of being sent away for a long time is just wrong and compounds onto mass incarceration. While the entire film was based around the thirteenth amendment and racial disparities, it was very well orchestrated when shedding light to other detrimental factors to our laws and incarceration rates. There was a lot to take away from this film, not only the progression of our laws and our racial disparity that is still present but what councils and other factors influenced in creating our laws that caused our sky rocketing incarceration rates. -Blues001
ReplyDeleteThis was my first time seeing this movie and i have to say I am still shocked by it and also saddened. I never knew about the loophole in the 13th amendment that your free except if your a “criminal”. Seeing how african americans were supposed to be free, but still getting picked up on petty crimes which considered them not free is sad. If you think about it once they were free they had no money, food, shelter, so the petty crimes they were committing were most likely not even crimes but because of the circumstances they were locked up and still considered slaves when they should have been totally free. I thought it was interesting that the government and the FBI considered activist such as Angela Davis, Fred hampton, and others to be considered armed and dangerous. However the truth isI don't believe those same people who considered them “dangerous” were ready for the truth they were saying. They most likely couldn't handle a black group coming together doing and saying what's right. To them that is a threat they were not ready for so they had to be stopped and dismantled. The war on drugs started with Nixon and so forth, this led to mass incarceration which also resulted in racial disparity. People of color were getting incarcerated far more than other races. For example the disparity with crack and cocaine. Possession of cocaine was a simple “slap on the wrist” however, if you were caught with crack the punishment was far worse. Crack was a lot cheaper than cocaine that is one reason why people of color were getting locked up for it.
ReplyDeleteThey most likely did not have the funds or access to obtain cocaine. Police always targeted the areas with colored people than any other area. Mandatory minimums, three strikes your out, and also truth in sentencing were other reasons that led to the mass incarceration of Africans Americans and Hispanics. Lawmakers and politicians were making certain laws for political means and also because they knew that's what the public wanted. They wanted to stay in office or win the election so they did what they thought was right. While doing what they thought was right it cost a lot of people their life in prisons When Bill Clinton apologized he understood that his bill for more funding for prisons did more harm than good. Thinking about free labor I never really thought about prisoners are exploited right here at home by doing free labor. The average minimum wage they are paid is 86 cents, they were making items for big name stores such as JCPenny and Victoria Secret also, harvesting potatoes for Idaho Potatoes. When this brought to attention JCPenney and VS eventually switched manufactures. It was shocking to see that only 97% that are locked up actually took a plea bargain and didnt have a trial. The people that took the plea deals knew they would be facing more time if they went to trial. Although a trial is apart of your rights it's almost considered a punishment of some sort if you go to trial and, the punishment is more time than what your being offered in the plea bargain
-21Aries001
“Wow” is the first word that comes to mind after watching the documentary 13th. There were already quite a few issues that I was aware of with corrections that were addressed in the film, but they brought many more to light that I didn’t even know existed. We already know that the United States locks up the most people in the world, but the film answered the question of “why” this is in great detail. Each inmate comes with a price tag and makes someone else rich. This is not just referring to the private prison industry, but this is also referring to the other corporations that are involved in the prison system. From phones to bail there is money to be made, and so long as people are getting locked up, these people are getting payed. If that’s not bad enough, the quality of “service” is appalling to say the least. There was a story of food having maggots in it on numerous occasions. This is because there is no real need to provide good service for those who have been locked up. Mainly for the fact that they have few rights and are rarely heard. It’s all about money. Even the one guy who owned a bail company stated that so long as he’s getting our family members out of jail, “… you don’t mind me making a buck”. This can be credited to ALEC and all that they have done to manipulate various bills and laws. This was my very first-time hearing about ALEC and what all they do. They are a group of large corporations that work right alongside with politicians to push bills and laws that they want to have passed. They are able to push their own agenda to make money off of the laws “created” by our politicians. One such case is for the bill SB1070 which grants law enforcement to arrest anyone who looks like an immigrant and put them into detention centers. This is literally racism. Targeting a specific group of people simply because of how they look and punishing them for it. Adults aren’t the only ones getting arrested, children are being locked up as well. All for the sake of a little extra cash. It disgusts me to see how little life is actually valued by such greedy and pompous people. The truth is, these businesses don’t want change or reform. The second recidivism goes down, and people are finally able to live their lives, these businessmen start losing money. Something else that I appreciate about the film was its overall authenticity towards these various issues. They didn’t shy away from showing the unjust and grotesque treatment of the African American communities and the now growing prison populations. Once someone is labeled a felon, they are treated less than human. They still have limited rights though they are out of prison. Many businesses won’t employ them. This all can lead to recidivism which means more people are making money off of them. I hope that more people begin to research this topic to raise awareness towards the issue. Changes need to be made to the system and soon. Sexy_in_Bikini001
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