The documentary film ‘’13th’’ written by Ava DuVernay which was released in 2016 is about the intersection of race, justice, and mass incarceration in the United States. The title ‘’13th’’ comes from the amendment which abolished slavery and involuntary servitude except as a punishment of a crime. This documentary reveals the inequality of blacks and Latinos face in our modern-day criminal justice system.  It provides light towards racial injustice which is still happening in the United States to this day.  

Even though criminal justice is supposed to serve justice to the community, the police are still serving its original purpose. The first policing patrol was created in North Carolina to patrol slaves. This idea spread through colonies. Current day police are serving its original purpose by mostly targeting African Americans. The mass incarceration of African Americans was one of the reasons this documentary was created.

One reason atrocities towards African Americans increased because of the movie “Birth of Nation”. This movie portrayed African Americans as criminals s threat to white women and described black men as evil. This movie was one of the reasons the group called KKK reemerged because of this movie there was a massive killing of black people and more hate crimes occurred especially in the south.

I believe this documentary shows how massive incarceration started in this country. Starting from the beginning till the end. It shows all the reasons why and how social injustice has been occurring against African Americans.

I think I should get 7/10 because this review probably needs more examples from the movie.

Writing blogs this semester has been a new experience for me. I have learned to write better for the public and share my opinion. By writing my opinions I have learned how to become a better writer. Even though I’m not really confident enough to speak in public. I have become more confident to write my words out. I have seen my self improve by comparing my first blog to my last blog.

I would give my self a 12/20 because I have written 12 blogs. I’m giving one point each to a blog post I wrote.

Through out Donald Trumps presidency we have seen many cases where we have seen Trump being Racist. Even before he became a president we had seen many times Donald Trump saying Racist things. For example, he had called Mexicans “rapists” and “drug dealers” on national tv. Throughout his presidency he had tried to put ban on muslims coming to the country also tried to build a wall. Current example we can give is about Donald Trump calling the corona virus the “Chinese Virus”.

Can the American Dream really be accomplished if our leader himself is racist?Can every body be equal in this country? Can racism ever end in this country? Can minorities in this country ever be accepted? Is this country only for “white people”?

https://theconversation.com/donald-trumps-chinese-virus-the-politics-of-naming-136796

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/07/08/donald-trumps-false-comments-connecting-mexican-immigrants-and-crime/

My final slide is about the Supreme Court. It talks about the basic information of the Supreme Court. For example, how many justices are in the court, what rank it has in the country, and how many cases are received per year.

I believe I should receive a 10/10 for my final slide because I chose a specific topic to explain about. I have one quote from an assigned reading, one visual that connects to my topic and also other information that connects my topic.

The Judicial branch of the United States consists of the U.S supreme court and lower courts. The supreme court is the highest court whose rulings can not be appealed. The supreme court deals with cases that have to be interpreted by the constitution. Throughout history, all hearings of the supreme court were private. For the first time in 230 years, the Supreme court cases are going to be live and heard by the public. Because of the Covid-19 crisis, the supreme court agreed to broadcast live 10 arguments via teleconference.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/04/listen-live-supreme-court-broadcasts-oral-arguments-for-first-time.html

There are many debates about whether the voting age limit should be lowered to 16. Some people say it should be lowered while others believe it shouldn’t. Some reasons voting age should be lowered is that there would be better voter turnout. Another reason voting age should be lowered is that if 16-year-olds can pay taxes then they should be able to vote too. Some reasons voting age shouldn’t be lowered is because not a lot of 16-year-old teenagers are interested in politics. this will lead t decisions that can affect the community more.

So should the voting age be lowered to 16?

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/07/learning/should-the-voting-age-be-lowered-to-16.html?module=ArrowsNav&contentCollection=The%20Learning%20Network&action=keypress&region=FixedLeft&pgtype=article

The past couple of months have been really hard and has put a lot of pressure on the government. In one of his recent speeches, President Trump has said “I’m going to put it very simply. The President of the United States has the authority to do what the President has the authority to do. Which is very powerful”. Many experts disagree with this statement because they think the president doesn’t have a formal power to override state government. I think this statement goes against the American government’s concept of federalism. Federalism is a U.S. system of government in which power is distributed between a central government and individual states.

https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/trump-has-single-handedly-created-a-new-federalism

I had politically participated this semester by filling out the 2020 census for my household. The US census officially counts every resident in the United States every 10 years. This determines how many seats each state has in the House of Representatives. The more population a state has, the more government representatives represent the state. The census also determines how federal funds are going to be distributed.

While filling out the census I’ve noticed that there was a question specifically about being from a Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin. While the questions didn’t specifically talk about other origins. After doing research, I found out that they ask specific questions about Hispanic, Latina, and Spanish background to make statistics about this group. These records also are used to determine government programs and policies to make certain that they fairly and equally serve the needs of the Hispanic population.

I think I should get 10/10 for this assignment because I have politically participated and wrote about 2 paragraphs about what I did.

The Executive branch consists of the president, the vise president, and the cabinet members. Talking about the president, the president has given many “good” ideas regarding Coronavirus treatment. During this pandemic, I’ve realized that the United States was never ready for something big. They didn’t have any idea to prevent this disease from spreading. There were many precautions that could’ve been taken to prevent this disease from spreading but we were too late to begin.

The legislative branch consists of the senate and house of representatives. One of the main topics discussed in the legislative branch is the Coronavirus stimulus relief check. Many people have received their check, however, the senate is trying to figure out a solution where everyone would be able to get the stimulus check. For example, college students had not filled out their own tax papers do not get this check. Maybe the revised stimulus check relief bill will be a help to college students.