The film 13th is based on the Thirteenth Amendment and written by Ava Duvernay, the film discusses the intersection of justice, mass incarceration and race in UNITED STATES. In 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment was passed and slavery was ended, but in this film it is about the exception clause of the amendment. This clause makes slavery still legal if you committed a crime your punishment could be becoming a slave. This documentary does a spectacular job of showing us how slavery is still linked to our prison and labor systems today and is based on the Black Lives Matter movement. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essaySlavery was abolished, except for criminals. Duvernay explains how slavery has continued in the systems since the end of the Civil War. They continue through abuse of power by the police (arresting people of lower economic class because of their status), freedmen, and criminalization of behavior. African Americans have been arrested for simple things, like walking down the street or standing in front of an establishment. The documentary expresses concern over 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 from then on. When the civil rights movement began, there was another sharp increase in arrest and incarceration rates. When 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 a telling statistic: 1 in 17 white Americans will go to prison in their lifetime, where 1 in 17 African Americans will 3 will go. prison during their lives. This statistic helps prove 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 than and ashamed. African Americans were seen as predators and white people took advantage of this, white people began to lynch them and deprive them of their rights. It was during this time that the War on Drugs began, which put more pressure on minorities, which also led to more mass incarceration. African Americans were powerless in the years leading up to the 20th century, they had no voice or rights in the political system, and whites had reached an unprecedented level 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 he was in a grocery store and made a woman feel uncomfortable because of his presence. African Americans were being murdered for no reason other than simply living. In recent years, we have discovered that Till was in fact innocent, and that this situation never happened. The 13th distorts a lot of truth about history and current situations regarding race and our political/judicial system. It shows great examples of police brutality/corruption, more information, and the history of the Black Lives Matter movement and white power. Duvernay paints a magnificent picture of how protesters play an important role in why we took the steps necessary to get to this point