American Prison System in Ava DuVernay's "13th"

The thought-provoking documentary has Ava DuVernay as the voice-over narration and the director of the film. The film was produced by Kandoo films and distributed by Netflix to illustrate how much is being made by corporations in both the prison and detention industrial complexes. Lisa Nishimura, Netflix vice president, funded Ava in the $1 million production of the documentary to unearth the complexities surrounding prison operations and discrimination of the Africa Americans. Coming out a month before the election, the documentary hoped to influence political conversations on the candidates to enable people to make wise voting choices. 

Without a doubt, the America prison system affects people of color with one out of four blacks being incarcerated at some point in their lives. Despite the burden of truth demonstrated in the film, its final scenes remind people that black trauma is not the entirety of life but rather an inspiration that makes people united and strong. Given the widespread violence, hatred, and stigmatization of African Americans, I was not surprised by the information provided in the documentary. 

In this case, I cannot help but feel that the current generation of activists more often than not emphasizes the greatness of Martin Luther among others in their inept opinions. The film openly talks about how skin color separates people into different domains. Despite it being the truth that only a few people would want to talk about, I am saddened by the rate at which blacks are recognized in the society; uncivilized and criminals. What I did not know before is that history is repeating itself as seen when white leaders such as Trump instigating violence by perpetuating racist comments and opinions. In this case, I would advocate for the vetting of leaders before their candidature to prevent public negative hatred comments from influencing people and culminating into violence.