13th Amendment Continues to Contribute to Black American Stigmatizations

Recommended APA 7th Edition Citation:

Grinev, L. (2023, March 16). 13th Amendment contributing to black American stigmatizations. In Articles. https://wellnesstoday180.net/blog#articles

Documentary Films (2016) presented a video to explain how the United States (U.S.) government has historically leveraged the 13th Amendment to essentially continue slavery through systematic institutions (i.e., prisons) upon convicted individuals, particularly non-White minorities. Before the Civil War, slavery was an economic system in the South. Upon the abolition of slavery, African Americans (i.e., blacks) were arrested en masse, contributing to the first historic U.S. prison population boom. Following their arrests, these black men were used as laborers to rebuild the South.

Under the 13th Amendment, involuntary servitude or slavery in the U.S. is only justified as punishment. Southern legislatures then utilized Jim Crow laws, among other segregating acts, to invoke criminogenic perceptions onto the black populous, now called black criminality mythology. Yet, the generational trauma on black Americans has arguably been slightly minimized after enacting the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act. Continuing acts of contemporary activism, such as those seen with the Black Panthers and Black Power movement, as noted within Documentary Films (2016), have contributed to dog-whistle politics to advance black-centered democratic reform and justice.

However, the hypersegregation seen within inner-city and suburban communities, according to Documentary Films (2016), contributes to black disparity. Additionally, black Americans are arrested and convicted more frequently than white counterparts. Documentary Films (2016) argue that these arrests of black Americans are attempts of the Republican party to win elections, as those arrested, nonetheless convicted, cannot vote. Furthermore, most prisons fall under the private sector and means for philanthropic individuals, which are usually white men, to profit off of punishment, as mentioned in Documentary Films (2016). Since prisons are profitable in the U.S., the U.S. homes 25% of the world's prisoners, despite the U.S. only representing 5% of the world’s population.

In retrospect, the South implementing segregation after the Civil War has allowed hegemony to become relatively acceptable in the U.S. The post-Civil War actions of the South have caused institutional discrimination, marginalization, microaggressions, othering, and tokenism, as listed by Sanford (2020), towards black Americans. Therefore, feminism and intersectionality are needed to dismantle existing black criminogenic mythology (Sanford, 2020).

Indeed, Ellen and O’Regan (2010) signaled that segregated U.S. metropolitan areas still face problems surrounding education attainment and labor outcomes. In other words, existing systems have prevented black individuals from obtaining adequate education and jobs, contributing to criminogenic behaviors and poverty conditions (Ellen & O’Regan, 2010). Moreover, these communities do not provide proliferating amenities, public services, and social conditions to ameliorate black communities (Ellen & O’Regan, 2010). Ergo, change development (i.e., gentrification; Ellen & O’Regan, 2010) is needed in the scopes of education, health-related behaviors, parenting, and safety within black communities to reduce criminogenic behavior and poverty conditions of black Americans to allow higher business and personal profitability and decrease livelihood stressors.

Social workers can assist and rebuild communities using the five-stage feminist identification model to inform social justice work (Sanford, 2020). By reducing anger, frustration, and hopelessness as a result of black criminogenic mythology, social workers can advocate for common humanity for these marginalized and underserved communities (Sanford, 2020). By combating racism, social workers can instill social justice consciousness and orientation by accepting modern-day truths, investigating implicit biases, and sympathizing with others (Sanford, 2020). Altogether, Sanford (2020) insisted that social workers become post-racist and pro-feminist to challenge the American status quo and end black communities' systematic oppression.

References

Ellen, I. G., & O'Regan, K. (2010). Welcome to the neighborhood: How can regional science contribute to the study of neighborhoods? Journal of Regional Science, 50(1), 363-379. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9787.2009.00643.x

Netflix. (2016, October 12). 13th [Video]. In Documentary Films. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krfcq5pF8u8

Sanford, A. A. (2020). From Thought to Action. Cognella, Inc.