Notes

Have you ever had to confront direct or systemic racism in your life? If so, how were you affected? If not, how do you think systemic racism might affect those around you?

What are your thoughts on the film’s argument that people have been subconsciously conditioned to fear black men because of the media?

How knowledgeable are you on the concept of social privilege? Do you ever reflect upon the systematic privileges you may or may not experience because of race, gender, age, class, sexual orientation, religion, physical/mental abilities, etc.? How so?

What do you think about the present state of the American prison system? If you live elsewhere, what do you think of the prison system in your country in comparison?

The film argues that there is a direct link between American slavery and the modern American prison system. What is your take on this argument?

Do you see yourself making any personal changes in your life after having watched 13th? Why or why not? What sorts of changes might you make?

Super predator. Criminal. Think about the power of media and the power of words. Discuss media and how words impact the perception and criminalization of people of color, both in the past and the present (animalistic, violent, to be feared, threat to white people, criminals, etc.). Give modern-day examples.

Were you surprised to know about ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council—a committee of politicians and corporations influencing laws that benefit its corporate founders and pushing forth policies to increase the number of people in prison and increase sentences) and CCA (Corrections Corporations of America, leader in private prisons that is required to keep prison beds filled—the leading corporation responsible for the rapid increase in criminalization)? How do you feel about corporations profiting from incarceration? How does their work impact communities?

After watching the full documentary, how would you sum up your current emotional/spiritual state (helpless, inspired, challenged, angry, stirred to action, a combination of feelings)?





The 13th Amendment to the Constitution declared 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.”

"The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did." – John Ehrlichman, Nixon Administration Advisor

President Clinton built the infrastructure for mass incarceration: mandatory minimums (taking the discretion away from judges), militarization of police (SWAT teams), three-strikes law, and truth-in-sentencing laws (must serve 85% of sentence).


• America is home to 5 percent of the world’s
population, but 25 percent of the world’s
prisoners—one out of four people in the world are locked up in the United States.

• According to the Bureau of Justice, the lifetime likelihood of imprisonment for white men is 1 in 17. For African American males, the lifetime likelihood is 1 in 3. 6.5% of the American population is made up of African American men, but they account for 40.2 percent of the prison population—more than were ever under the burden of slavery before it was abolished in 1863.

• According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the total cost of mass incarceration in the US in 2010 was a mind-boggling $80 billion.

• 357,292 people were incarcerated in the United
States in 1970. By 2014, that number had
increased to a staggering 2,306,200.



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