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Documentary: 13th

Documentary: 13th

Posted on May 30, 2022January 24, 2023

I have always been fascinated by incarceration. Locking people up in small areas, sometimes for their entire life. Why? How? This fascination even led me to do my internship in a Dutch prison back in 2017. I then saw everything from up front. I don’t know if I still would choose the same internship now in 2022, because my views have changed. But the fascination about incarceration has stayed. This led me to watch a documentary which shines light on mass incarceration in relation to racism in the United States. Today I am sharing this documentary with you: 13th.

Know Your History

Today I am writing about the United States and what I’ve learned from the documentary 13th. But in no way can I, as a Dutch person, judge the Americans for the things they’ve done or are doing, without knowing my own history. The Dutch history. I thank my wealth to ancestors who traveled the world, stole from nations around the world, showed extreme violence to different people around the world, enslaved entire nations and the list goes on. When I say anything about racism, it must be here in Netherlands. Because racism is here too, even though Dutch people think it’s not or not so much. This is simple not true.

And so, I try to combat racism here in the Netherlands. And I am not the person who says how things should be done in the United States. But! I do want to inform you about different issues around the globe. And the documentary I am sharing today is extremely important. Whatever you do after watching the documentary, know your own history if you’re white. Because we cannot judge other nations without looking at our own.

13th

Onto the documentary. 13th is a documentary which sheds a light on mass incarceration in the United States. The United States houses 5% of the world population, but 25% of all prisoners worldwide. And so we speak of mass incarceration, because these statistics are out of balance. How come? The documentary tells you why. The documentary is called 13th is because it resolved around the 13th amendment of the constitution in the United States. This 13th amendment makes it illegal to enslave anyone since 1865. It must assure freedom to all American people. But there is one exception to freedom: criminals.

Criminals are allowed to work for close to nothing in prison and sometimes locked up their entire life. Therefore the subtitle of the documentary is: from slave to criminal in one amendment. Right now, the chance for white men to go to prison in the United States is 1 in 17, for black men it’s 1 in 3. 13th shows us, in my opinion, how mass incarceration is just a symptom of a bigger issue: racism.

The documentary shows how complicated racism in the United Stated is and how many factors play a role. Mass-incarceration is just one example to portrait the entire system of racism. So many factors play a role. The so-called ‘war on drugs’, politics, mass-incarceration, socio-economic factors, demographics, private prisons, lobbying, plead deals, the violence inside prisons, police violence, etc. It also shows the absurd system around crime that the government has built. The three strike law for example or mandatory minimum sentences. The problem of racism is massive.

Change

Racism keeps getting a new form. It went from slavery to convict leasing, then the Jim-crow system, after that the mass incarceration and so much more. It shows that the core problem is of this injustice is racism and that’s what we need to combat. I am not here to tell you how to do that. The resources are there. We just need to listen to people of color and make room for them. A good Dutch website is Wit Huiswerk, where you can learn all about what you should do to combat racism.

Have you seen the documentary 13th? It can be seen on Netflix.

Another must watch is the series: When They See Us.

Yours sincerely,
Romee

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ABOUT ME

 

when a teen goes green

Hi! My name is Romee Hoeksma and I am on a journey to an eco-positive life. An eco-positive lifestyle is a lifestyle in which I have a more positive than negative impact on the beautiful planet earth. On this blog you can follow my journey to a life with only positive impact. At this blog you can find all sorts of things, from tips to recipes to personal experiences, but most of all fun (I hope!). I write about how I want to change the world, but don’t look at it as if I’m judging you. If anything, I like responses from my dear readers the most, so don’t hesitate to contact me or respond to any of my posts!

Yours sincerely,
Romee

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Een greep uit de vegan maaltijden die ik at in mei 2023 πŸ§†. Als ik zo terugkijk heb ik de italiaanse weer helemaal ontdekt, haha! Maar het hoogtepunt was wel echt de vegan, zero waste, kaassaus die ik maakte voor over de nachoschotel 🫘. Welke vegan ijs-, toetjes- of yoghurtproducten zijn het lekkerst? Ik zette het voor je op een rijtje in een artikel die vanaf vandaag te lezen is 🍧. Je vindt de link in mijn bio. Spoiler: deze van Hertog staat er zeker tussen! #plantaardig #vegan #blogger ✨ 4 tweedehands outfits die ik droeg in mei 2023 πŸ‘—. Ik had op iets beter weer en iets koudere outfits gehoopt, maar goed, dat schuiven we dan maar naar juni! Ik ben poepdonor πŸ’©. Ja, Γ©cht. Ik doe mee met een wetenschappelijk onderzoek waarbij mijn darmflora gebruikt wordt om mensen met een leveraandoening te genezen. Ik ben zo blij met de positieve impact die ik hiermee kan maken! En ik krijg er nog betaald voor ook. Meer weten? Lees het artikel dat ik erover schreef via de link in mijn bio. Binnenkort zal ik er ook een Youtube-video aan wijden. #donor #positieveimpact #nafldnashresearch Minimaliseren en ontspullen blijft een ongoing process πŸ“¦. Ik vind dat ik niet al te veel spullen heb, maar toch geef ik nog geregeld spullen weg aan de kringloopwinkel. In deze reel laat ik de laatste 5 items aan je zien. Plantaardiger eten hoeft niet moeilijk te zijn, je moet net even weten welke producten vegan zijn. Vandaag deel ik een makkelijke swap voor mayonaise 🍟. Het is weer mei! En dat betekent dat er weer een artikel met podcast-tips op mijn blog staat (de vijfde in de reeks inmiddels!). Vandaag lees je over 4 podcasts die ik aan bijna iedereen zou aanraden 🎧. 5 vegan maaltijden die ik at in april 2023 πŸ₯™. En ja, Γ©cht alles is vegan. Want elk gerecht is te veganizen. Vandaag verscheen er weer een kijktip op mijn blog. Ik tipte de serie Dominee of Koopman, een serie over ontwikkelingshulp. Wat ik ervan vond lees je in het artikel πŸ’°. #blog #serie #ontwikkelingshulp

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