The fact of the matter is that we know. The data is there. It is clear and, as upsetting as it might be, it has been known for a long time. The real question is, why don’t we do something? The answer to this question -a frightening one- is that our society is satisfied to leave the issue untouched. Even if the cost is high for some, we’ve made the calculation that avoiding disruption to our lives makes that price worthwhile.
A documentary made in 2016 has been making some noise. Its argument begins in 1865. Ratified at the conclusion of the Civil War, the 13th amendment of the US Constitution is celebrated as slavery’s end. Its text reads:
A documentary made in 2016 has been making some noise. Its argument begins in 1865. Ratified at the conclusion of the Civil War, the 13th amendment of the US Constitution is celebrated as slavery’s end. Its text reads:
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Parting from this language, the premise for the film 13th is that hiding within these important words is a poison pill. Specifically, the argument is that the codification of the exception -made in the name of punishing a crime- has resulted in the transformation of our legal system into a modern iteration of slavery.
Indeed, a brief look at any statistics related to the issue supports the idea that law and order is a euphemism for the systematic marginalization of African Americans: The US is less than five percent of the world’s population, yet 25% of the people imprisoned in the world are in the US. African Americans are 12-13% of the US population, but they are 35% of jail inmates and 37% of prison inmates.
A 2012 study by Bryan Warde summarized the situation:
Indeed, a brief look at any statistics related to the issue supports the idea that law and order is a euphemism for the systematic marginalization of African Americans: The US is less than five percent of the world’s population, yet 25% of the people imprisoned in the world are in the US. African Americans are 12-13% of the US population, but they are 35% of jail inmates and 37% of prison inmates.
A 2012 study by Bryan Warde summarized the situation:
There is irrefutable evidence that relative to their numbers in the USA, black men, particularly those from economically disadvantaged urban communities, are disproportionately represented at all levels of the criminal justice system
Warde continues with a detailed breakdown of the numbers in regard to African American males:
[T]hough only 6% of population, they accounted for 28% of all arrests and 40% of all men held in prison and jail in 2008. In addition, they comprised 9% of those men who were on either probation or parole in 2008. Indeed, as of 2010, one in three black men was under the supervision of the criminal justice system. Further, one in seven is permanently or temporarily unable to vote because of a felony conviction. Such has been the extent of the disproportionality over the last 30 years that without some abatement in these trends, one in three black males born in the USA today can expect to spend time in prison, compared to one in six Hispanic males and one in 17 white males
These are the facts. Ava DuVernay’s film does not reveal new information. It does, however, challenge us. 13th pushes the issue into the country’s face. To ignore the situation up until now has been criminal. To continue to do so after seeing the film is worse. Is the US capable of looking into this mirror?
Works Cited
Warde, Bryan. “Black Male Disproportionality in the Criminal Justice Systems of the USA, Canada, and England: a Comparative Analysis of Incarceration.” Journal of African American Studies, vol. 17, no. 4, Nov. 2012, pp. 461–479.
Warde, Bryan. “Black Male Disproportionality in the Criminal Justice Systems of the USA, Canada, and England: a Comparative Analysis of Incarceration.” Journal of African American Studies, vol. 17, no. 4, Nov. 2012, pp. 461–479.
