Second Order Assignment (History Paper): The 13th Amendment

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The 13th Amendment
A Movie Review
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Today, one out of every four prisoners in the world are in the United States. This crisis, however, is not a simple issue of the present and the just recent past. According to the documentary, this issue was rooted in a profound and historical racial conflict between the “colored” and the “Whites” a long time ago. This issue, however, is just one of the main points that could be made from the book and the film. Another point from the film discussed “slavery” and said that ever since it was removed through the 13th amendment, those who are in power tried to find new source of “wealth”. This then paved the way through the utilization of the amendment’s loophole which is “slavery through criminalization”. Coming from the book, this could be seen as the continuing hold of colonists to their former colonies despite the establishment of colonial independence (1090). Another point that relates the film and the book is the case of Zimbabwe. It is said that most “Whites” opposed the move to independence because they were already used to living a privileged life (1091). In the movie, this could be seen as the establishment of radical racist groups such as Ku Klux Klan in order to oppose equality, which in turn, would endanger their privileged position in the society. Another point is the dominance of the Liberation Theology in Latin America by the early 1970s (1095). The movie showed that liberation theology also spread throughout the America in response to the apparent violation of human rights. In relation to the book, the “Six-day war” that happened between Arabs and Israelis (1088) also led to the increase of refugees in the surrounding countries. Lastly, the movie said that the conflict and the racist violence against the people of color are the main reasons why many blacks fled as refugees to other states in the United States.[. 13th. Dir. Ava DuVernay. Perf. Michelle Alexander, Cory Booker and Jelani Cobb. 2016. Film.]