13th (documentary)

Ava DuVernay’s film on the Thirteenth Amendment’s exception clause — criminalization as a replacement for lost labor, the 1970s explosion into mass incarceration, and the role media consumption played alongside the politicization of race.

Notes

• The loop hole in the 13th amendment allowed for criminalizing black people to make up for the loss of labor
• The real explosion happened in the 1970’s when you started to see mass incarceration
• The problem grew as much out of the politicization of race as it did the mass consumption of media
  • https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/07/ronald-reagans-racist-conversation-richard-nixon/595102/ - #articles-to-read

Verbatim source notes — restored from Roam, 2026-09-21

• Question: Why did Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon hate black people?