I was compelled to watch  the documentary 13^th, not because everybody was like have you seen it yet, but because I came across this article  in my career journal “Obama Commutes More Drug Sentences”. What I found powerful in the article was this statement “At the heart of America is the idea that we’re all imperfect. We all make mistakes. We have to take responsibility and learn from those mistakes,” Obama said in a written statement. “And we as a society have to make sure that people who do take responsibility for their mistakes are able to earn a second chance to contribute to our communities and our country. It’s the right thing to do. It’s the smart thing to do,” he added. “Now it’s up to good minds on both sides of the aisle to come together to restore fairness in our criminal justice system, use our tax dollars more effectively, and give second chances to those who have earned them.”

I could write my own novel on 13^th, but my review echoes the “Powerful, infuriating and at times overwhelming, Ava DuVernay’s documentary ‘13^TH’ will get your blood boiling and tear ducts leaking. It shakes you up, but it also challenges your ideas about the intersection of race, justice and mass incarceration in the United States”

Between the lines, “13th” boldly asks the question if African-Americans were actually ever truly “free” in this country. The documentary takes off from there, with a slew of familiar faces like Angela Davis, Henry Louis Gates and Van Jones, Newt Gingrich and Grover Norquist. It interviews liberal scholars and activists for the cause of providing information against visual backdrops of a prison and a factory. One quickly picks up on the message here of the industrial setting, which labors the 13th Amendment supposedly dismantled when it abolished slavery. The final takeaway of “13th” is that change must come not from politicians, but from the hearts and minds of the American people.Have you seen this movie, what are your thoughts? Do you have any recommendation of what I should be watching?