13th By Ava Duvernay: Documentary Analysis

Racial Injustice is a major problem in the United States. The 13th amendment enforced by the Senate on December 6, 1865 that effectively abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in America, which whom they thought racial discrimination would no longer cease to exist; all men are created equal. The documentary “13th” directed by Ava DuVernay states that racial Injustice still occurs in our everyday lives; people are treating blacks as if they were in the 18th century. People do not know the struggle that blacks face in America which is racial discrimination. Although the 13th amendment protects the rights of blacks, people still target them as criminals, feel they’re a threat to our country, and treat them as slaves in prison.
The documentary “13th” states that, “People say all the time, ‘well, I don’t understand how people could have tolerated slavery?’ ‘How could they have made peace with that?’ ‘How could people have gone to a lynching and participated in that?’ ‘That’s so crazy, if I was living at that time I would never have tolerated anything like that.’ And the truth is we are living in this time, and we are tolerating it.” (DuVernay, 2016). This is a very important quote from the film because it shows the reality of America that people do not realize. As they say “treat others how you want to be treated” This is a perfect example because no one wants to be treated like animals or criminals when they do not deserve to be treated that way. America needs to perceive the significance that about 600,000 americans died in the civil war to have equality amongst all blacks and still racial discrimination occurs . So does that mean we have to have another war to maintain equality among everyone and have a significant amount of lives lost just because people do not know how to treat other human
A man shot 17 year old Trevon Martin because he looked “suspicious”. When this man called the police he mentioned specifically, “And he’s a black male” which means this man is targeting a black male for no reason. Police did not arrest this man because he claimed that he shot Trevon for “self-defence” and this was part of the Flordia Law. What has this world become to? This law gave prejudice people the right to shoot whatever black person and get away with it. This tragedy ignited the people to start a movement for justice. For example, this is where the movement “Black Lives Matter” originated in. Black Lives Matter is for anyone to come be a part of, not just blacks. People may see this as a threat because they see a group of blacks and feel threatened. Are they supposed to shoot every black in the crowd? DuVernay mentions in the documentary that, “That someone would use the last moments of someone else’s life without permission is regrettable to me,” (DuVernay, 2016). She means that the videos taken by many individuals that show a black male being shot are despairing. What this person with the camera should have done is stand up for what is right instead of recording and doing nothing to help the black male. America’s people should be more caring to those around them, helping is the key to kindness in this