John Mulcrone

Dr. Parks
Sociology In Action
After watching the film 13th and hearing what Mr. Drahozal had to say regarding the United
States criminal justice system, I could not help be moved by what I saw. The film itself was extremely
moving and easy to understand, and Mr. Drahozal provided a lot of interesting anecdotes from his own
experience.
I had a history teacher in high school who stressed to us that the history of the United States
cannot be taught without a large focus on two main elements-race and social class. Race and class are so
interwoven throughout the history of our country that they influence almost all aspects of society. In the
case of race, the southern economy was built almost entirely on the backs of slave labor. After the freeing
of the slaves, the Southern economy needed a way to recover. The ruling southern plantation class was
grossly outnumbered by the African Americans in the South. They needed a way to keep them down and
keep them oppressed. As it said in the movie, African Americans were arrested and jailed for any number
of harmless crimes, like loitering. Once imprisoned, African Americans could be used as cheap labor on
plantations to help rebuild the crippled southern economy. This was only the beginning of the long
history of mass incarceration being used as a tool to earn money for the rich white class of elitists and to
keep poor African Americans mired in poverty at the bottom. This practice only continued. The most
glaring example is the wars on crime and drugs. These both decimated black communities and led to
generations of black men spending their lives behind bars, often for small crimes involving marijuana or
crack cocaine. When entire generations of black children grow up without fathers in communities
decimated by drugs and mass incarceration, it only increases the vicious cycle of poverty.
I believe the topics discussed on Friday fit best with the conflict theory perspective of sociology.
Conflict theory focuses on inequality and the distribution of wealth and resources within society. In this
film, it is all too clear how the concentration of wealth and power at the top 1% of society is working as
hard as possible to ensure the security of their finances and place within society. To ensure their own
security, they must do whatever possible to keep those below them from realizing what is happening.
Keeping African Americans at the bottom of the food chain prevented them from infringing upon the
wealth of those at the top. One way to keep them at the bottom of the food chain was to put them in jail.
Putting them in jail only added to the atmosphere of stereotypes and prejudice that still plagues the
African American community to this day.
I believe that there are a few things that can be done to solve the issue of mass incarceration.
Firstly, I believe that drug use needs to be decriminalized. There are far too many people serving a great
deal of time for simply having too much marijuana on them. If anything, things like crack and heroin use
need to be treated as mental health issues rather than criminal offenses. For those who are imprisoned,
the prison system in the United States needs to be overhauled. Just sticking someone in a cell for ten to
fifteen years is not always going to show them the error of their ways. There needs to be more resources
devoted to helping people convicted of crimes assimilate back into society. The United States also
greatly struggles at treating mental health issues. Many of the people imprisoned in the United States
committed crimes because of untreated mental health issues. There is no reason for the United States to
have such a ridiculous amount of people in prison other than the fact that the wealthiest people in this
country are profiting off of the inordinate amount of Americans in prison. Lobbying firms like ALEC
only exacerbate the issue and make it harder to fix.
 This film and presentation helped me to better understand an issue that I knew about but did not
fully grasp. I was aware of the issues with lobbying firms like ALEC, but I did not know the depth to
which the issue reached. The film put things in an easy-to-understand context and helped to show us why
things like this are important and relevant, especially in today’s political climate. This is an extremely
important sociological topic. It will likely come off as relatively self-righteous, but I believe that the
inequality and prejudice that African-Americans face every day is an extremely pressing issue. I think
that part of the problem is that many people just don’t know. Educating someone on these things is the
first step towards making it right.