Please help due today
1. How did you feel after viewing 13th? Did you feel helpless, inspired, stirred to action, or a
combination of all three? Do you think the message of the film was ultimately hopeful? Why or
why not?
2. This documentary emphasizes that the current crisis of mass incarceration is directly tied to our
country's legacy and history of slavery. By showing how slavery shifted to convict leasing, to Jim
Crow segregation, to the war on drugs, 13th argues that "systems of oppression are durable and
they often reinvent themselves. " As Angela Davis stated in the Im, "Historically, when one looks at
efforts to create reforms, they inevitably lead to more repression. " What are ways you can end this
cycle? What do you think are some of the factors that allowed this system of racial control to
simply evolve and replicate itself for the past 150 years? How can you be more vigilant against
institutional racism?
3. How does 13th characterize our criminal justice system and political institutions? How did this
film shape your understanding of the prison system? Was there a particular case or series of facts
that altered or challenged any of your pre-existing views?
Explain.
4. How much did you know about the war on drugs and war on crime before watching the film?
Were you surprised to learn about the racial underpinnings of these legislative policies, and the
active role of the state in criminalizing and targeting communities of color? What was your reaction
after hearing the following quote from John Ehrlichman, one of Richard Nixon's aides?:
"The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar
left and black people. You understand what I'm saying? We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be
either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and
blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We
could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night
on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did. "
5. How do you think media and popular culture representations of Black Americans, particularly of
Black men, have contributed to a dangerous climate of white fear and anxiety? (Think back to the
way George Zimmerman was heard describing Trayvon Martin, or the media frenzy around the
Central Park Five that resulted in their wrongful imprisonment. ) How can we challenge these
instances of racism and dehumanization?
6. Many politicians, including the Clintons, Newt Gingrich And Charles rangle in this lm, have apologized for their role in promoting devastating tough on crime legislation, considering the billions of dollars made on the imprisonment of people, the ongoing practice of prison labor, and the cases of unjust imprisonment (as in the tragic case of Khalif Browder), is an apology enough? is our country compelled to repay these communities and families in a more material, restorative way why or why not?
