Kevin Gannon: Documentary Analysis

Kevin Gannon argues that ¨We are the product of history that our ancestors chose, if weŕe white. If we are black, we are the products of history that our ancestors most likely did not choose.¨ In this quote Gannon is saying that Blacks have never been able to choose how their life goes. They have always had choices that were given to them by whites or choices that were somehow influenced by whites. I agree with the 13th documentary when it concludes that politicians and other big name white figures in America have a strong hold on the other members of society that keeps racism and prejudice around. It is often said that Blacks are the cause of their own demise, but the speakers in the
13th documentary make it clear that they think the opposite. The politicians of America today have an astonishing way of tricking the people into believing things that they would normally think shouldńt happen. When Ronald Regan became president he gave us some insight on just how deceiving politicians can be. During his presidency, Regan is most commonly known for his work for the war on drugs. He often talked about stopping the war on drugs in America and
said that African Americans were the main cause of this problem. Although he often discussed this it was later seen that Reganś ¨war on drugs¨ wasn't actually a war at all and wasn't even a problem in America. Indeed it is highly likely that this was the way Regan found to keep the Blacks of America detained in prisons. All politicians today have ways to find loopholes for every situation and have an astonishingly strong hold on the citizens of America. These loopholes are needed because big companies use prison workers for free labor. Because of this need politicians are constantly making new laws to keep Blacks in prison so it is like they are still enslaved even though the anti-slavery 13th amendment was added to the constitution. Along with Regan's war on drugs, the loopholes contain things like the 3 strike law where after 3 felony charges the person is imprisoned for the rest of their lives.
The speakers from the 13th documentary are right that politicians have an overwhelmingly strong hold on the opinions of the American citizens. The quote in the beginning of this essay that was used in the documentary really stood with me throughout watching the video. The corruptness of the government that this documentary has showed me is outrageous and I have no disagreeance with anything said in this documentary. You would think that politicians would be worried about the actual problems in America, but instead they are creating a society that is completely racist and prejudice towards all races beyond whites. They make the laws to keep the races imprisoned because they are convinced that they are all criminals, but in fact the politicians are the criminals having so much prejudice and racism towards a certain people that they use their power in society to lock the people of other races away for their lives. Incidentally the citizens of the United States are prejudice because they are judging the races by what politicians tell them, and not by their own encounters.
Americans today tend to believe that all Blacks are criminals. This is partly due to the amount of false representation in the media that Blacks have. If you think back on it almost every time you see a black person on the news it is for some form of criminal activity. Because of this reporting and influence from politicians even the police force has began to have prejudice and don’t treat Blacks as they would whites. The people who implant the ideas of racism in our heads also do what they can to stop civil rights activists from changing the views of people. For example Fred Hampton was shot in his bed while sleeping next to his pregnant wife because he was the head of a civil rights group. Ava DuVernay, the director of 13th, wants to emphasize the point of blacks being wrongly accused and are sent to prison. Many examples are given in 13th and the most heart wrenching is the black woman who was arrested for transporting crack cocaine. The woman had no previous record but was sentenced for the drug that blacks were said to have made popular.
You would think that people would have realized how unjust the system is by now, but they seem to be blinded by the prejudice thoughts implanted into their minds.
The woman that was arrested for crack was put in prison for the rest of her life without anything else on her record, while a white person would have got a very short sentence if any at all. Anyone familiar with civil rights activists should see that they do good for the world. They open the eyes of everyone in unjust societies. Today we think of Martin Luther King Jr. as the most prominent civil rights activist of his time, but in fact he was thought of as a criminal. The speakers in 13th are right when they say that the early civil rights activists were brave when they spoke their mind about equal rights because they were often beaten and arrested for their
beliefs.
My conclusion, then, is that Blacks in today’s society are seen as criminals because of the ways that politicians and the media portray them. They have ingrained these lies into the minds of all americans and created feelings of prejudice and racism among the country. Blacks are often arrested to be used as labor for large corporations and a lot of them spend a majority of their lives in prison. They also often hide their feelings towards the unjust ways of society because they fear that they will receive backlash from the white community. The white community has continued to find ways to keep Blacks on a lower pedestal than themselves and yet still see all blacks as criminals. An extreme amount of prejudice and racism are the effects of the loopholes that politicians and media have found to keep Blacks enslaved.