In the years leading up to the 1860’s, freedom was an American fallacy. Frederick Douglass’ slave narrative is only one testament to the poisonous oppression spread throughout the United States. Ava DuVernay uses this toxicity to her advantage by turning heads, bringing to light cringe worthy moments in recent history, and continuing the speech of angered injustice that Frederick Douglass captured so well. Though the two oppose in direct topics of injustice, one being slavery and the other being racial inequality within the prison systems, they both hold very strong correlations with each other.
The first of these correlations occurs in regards to people being seen as tools and not human beings. Douglass’ life as a slave is one of constant …show more content…
This same thing can be tied to slavery. According to Douglass “...the slaves of all the other farmers received their monthly allowance of food, and their yearly clothing…” (949). When they are able to live in the ‘real world’ it is very difficult - for both slaves and previous inmates - to find work, much less good work. Douglass himself was lucky to find a job. “I found employment...in a stowing sloop with a load of oil. It was new, dirty, and hard work for me; but I went at it with a glad heart and a willing hand” (997), he writes, seemingly living a life that is much improving. However, this is not the case for many. Once in the prison system, that scarlet letter follows you until the day you die. This, in turn, feeds the stereotype of people of color, namely African Americans, being “criminals”, since they are much more targeted than white men or women, and they are never able to rid themselves of this label they are now given. DuVernay repeats this one word, criminal, throughout her entire movie until it is stamped into our brains like we freely stamp it onto the lost, confused, and innocent people we deem unworthy for our
The first of these correlations occurs in regards to people being seen as tools and not human beings. Douglass’ life as a slave is one of constant …show more content…
This same thing can be tied to slavery. According to Douglass “...the slaves of all the other farmers received their monthly allowance of food, and their yearly clothing…” (949). When they are able to live in the ‘real world’ it is very difficult - for both slaves and previous inmates - to find work, much less good work. Douglass himself was lucky to find a job. “I found employment...in a stowing sloop with a load of oil. It was new, dirty, and hard work for me; but I went at it with a glad heart and a willing hand” (997), he writes, seemingly living a life that is much improving. However, this is not the case for many. Once in the prison system, that scarlet letter follows you until the day you die. This, in turn, feeds the stereotype of people of color, namely African Americans, being “criminals”, since they are much more targeted than white men or women, and they are never able to rid themselves of this label they are now given. DuVernay repeats this one word, criminal, throughout her entire movie until it is stamped into our brains like we freely stamp it onto the lost, confused, and innocent people we deem unworthy for our