Faculty, Staff Discuss Importance of Documentary, 13th

Panel members explain how film opens eyes to oppression of Black Americans

Discussion and education about racial equality continued at Sacred Heart University with the third installment of the online discussion series, “Heart Challenges Hate: Wrestling with the Legacy of America’s ‘Original Sin.’”

In the most recent discussion, a panel of administrators and faculty discussed the documentary film 13th. A video of the talk is available for viewing on Vimeo.

Directed by Ava DuVernay in 2016, the film refers to the 13th amendment of the United States Constitution. It breaks down the amendment’s details and informs audiences that, while the law freed slaves, Black men were still imprisoned in large numbers for minor offenses, or for nothing at all, causing oppression. Experts in the film delve into racism, mass incarceration and the prison-industrial complex throughout the late 1800s, 1900s and present day.

Four SHU guests gathered with Michelle Loris, professor and associate dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, to discuss the eye-opening documentary. Clips from 13th were shown throughout the hour-long discussion.

Loris first asked Bill Harris, adjunct professor and director of the SHU Community Theater, for his thoughts on the film. He said facts are a stubborn thing and the film brings to light painful and historical truths about what Black Americans face. He said the Black Lives Matter protests happening across the nation stem from generations of frustrations. The documentary establishes why Black people have those frustrations.  

Throughout the 100-minute film, the director highlights issues with language, with phrases like “law and order,” “the war on drugs,” “super predators” and “dog whistle.” All these phrases were used during the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s to discuss crime.

William Yousman, associate professor in the School of Communication, Media & the Arts, said political campaigns never mentioned race, but through the use of these terms, candidates and the media constructed a culture in which Black people were thought to be more criminal than white people.

"Using such phrases sends a coded racial message,” Yousman said. “It’s meant to strike fear in the hearts of white people so they will support certain political candidates.”

Another movie clip focused on activist, author and educator Angela Davis.

Julie Lawrence, SHU’s executive director for diversity and inclusion, said she met Davis, who was once on the FBI’s most wanted list for voicing her opinion. “I was maybe 9 or 10 years old, and from that point on, who she was imprinted on my heart and soul,” Lawrence said.

“[Davis] has been a fighter for prison reform, defunding of police and restructuring of the bail system – all of which have been designed to incarcerate and oppress and to keep Black people out of society,” Lawrence added.

Conversation continued into the film’s emphasis on the country’s prison systems and the prison-industrial complex. The film explains how prisons enable private vendors to make millions: prison labor advances the companies, while prisoners get paid close to nothing. 

“Look at the long arch of racism in this country,” Harris said. “Slavery was an economic answer to building a young country.” Today, companies are still benefiting from the imprisonment of Black Americans. 

“We now have this toxic mix of private corporations and markets that are dependent upon mass incarceration, locking up as many people as it possibly can,” Yousman said. “I think it is absolutely indefensible that we have private corporations running prisons, and businesses profit off prison labor.”

To change that system, Yousman said, the nation has to address the economic aspects of it. He added that there must be a regulatory effort—new laws and policies on prison operations would have to be put into place.

The documentary also offered reflections on the Black Lives Matter movement, which led the conversation to the most recent killings of Black Americans. Harris said the death of George Floyd opened a lot of people’s eyes. “You know most of us are just asking, ‘Treat us like a human being.’”

“One of the things the film does, is it paints a picture that allows us to see that Black lives have never mattered in the United States,” Yousman said. “That we have never treated Black human beings as full citizens of United States…That’s something that I think has not been taught to us in our mainstream education.”

Yousman shows 13th in his class, and he said a common response he receives from students is, “I didn’t know anything about that.”

Lawrence said the reason so many white people joined the Black Lives Matter movement was because people who self-isolated at home due to the pandemic saw the video of Floyd’s murder over and over again.

“People were shocked into action,” she said. “Despite a murderous virus, the virus of racism is worse, and people went into the streets.”

Clockwise from top left are Julie Lawrence, Bill Harris, Sally Ross, Michelle Loris and Bill Yousman.