Urban Freedom Magazine The Anniversary Issue FALL 2017 | Page 30
Urban Money Matters
13 Movie
th
A
black leader in her own right, Ava Duver-
nay amazingly presents evidence on the
imprisonment of the black community
in her documentary “13 th .” It includes the
loopholes of the 13 th Amendment that continues
allowing blacks to be systematically hindered in a
supremacist America by placing us behind bars.
The 13th amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads
that “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude,
except as a punishment for crime whereof the
party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist
within the United States, or any place subject to
their jurisdiction.”[G1]
The “except as a punishment for a crime”[G2]
portion of the Amendment, assisted with the mass
incarcerations after the Civil War. Blacks were given
unreasonable sentences for situations that could
barely be considered crimes and used for labor to
rebuild the economy. It allowed the government
to once again enslave African Americans after it
was supposedly abolished.
30 | Urban Freedom Magazine - Fall 2017 Vol. 2
Take a look at 13th,
Now Available on Netflix