1 Post:

Watch the movie "13th" and then answer the questions

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/13th-2016 here is a summary if you don't wanna watch the movies.

250 words min

cite all sources

Please discuss your initial reactions and thoughts to the film 13th. How does it relate to this week's readings from Michelle Alexander's book? Please also respond to a classmates post this week.

2: Write a response of 100 words to the students post

Students post : My first initial reaction to watching this documentary was in total disgust and sadness due to the fact how broken our criminal justice system is when it comes to the social injustice with African Americans being incarcerated. In my opinion, I believe this documentary and the readings from Michelle Alexander's book, "The New Jim Crow", are very similar with the open discussion of racial disparity throughout the past and present. This documentary sheds the harsh dark reality of how much African Americans have suffered throughout decades of mistreatment, torment, oppression, and false imprisonment due to the color of their skins. I do not blame African Americans being skeptical of the justice system and law enforcement because in one way or another they have endured so much pain and injustice that I could understand why African Americans may live in fear of be persecuted for a crime they have no involvement in. One thing in particular that caught my attention watching this documentary is the statistics presented about how the United States is the known for the most populated prisons holding more African Americans as prisoners over any other race. This documentary made me very sad and upset seeing throughout historical periods of time how bad it was for African Americans to live in society constantly fearing and pleading for their lives. It is so sad that racism, racial profiling, discrimination, and racial injustice is still very prevalent in today's society especially with media influence stereotyping minorities especially African Americans as "criminals, thugs, murders and rapists." In her book, Alexander made a valid point concerning the current state of the criminal justice system stating, “The nature of the criminal justice system has changed. It is no longer primarily concerned with the prevention and punishment of crime, but rather with the management and control of the dispossessed.” The justice system has been broken down so many times that we as a society continue to dehumanize minorities and seek "justice" by incriminating minorities for misdemeanors or false crimes as a way to help keep the public safe instead of embracing one another and treating each other as equals.