There are topics that are difficult to talk about in our social world for example

race and gender, because not many people agree with the same ideas you might share.

There are readings and the documentary the 13th which provide us with the knowledge

we should know about race and gender. For example, the documentary the 13th shows

us the history of racial inequality in the United States. The readings we have been

reading in class from weeks 6 to 9 all connect to the documentary as well and expand

more knowledge on gender. I believe that both readings and the documentary the 13th

can connect to my race and gender in some ways as well.

Week 6 readings have connecting points to the documentary the 13th. In the

13th documentary it was said that “you see black males being a threat to white women”.

In this case both race and gender play a role. Judith Lorber states “when gender is a

major component of structured inequality, the devalued genders have less power,

prestige, and economic rewards than the valued genders”(Lorber, p.7). However race

also plays a role in this because it is saying that specifically black men are a threat to

white women. The white woman is seen as superior in this case, but women are seen

as less in general which is why there is that assumption that black men are a threat to

white women. “The devaluation of “women” and the social domination of “men” has

social functions and a social history. (Lorber, P.8).

In the 13th documentary they talk about a movie film and they state that in the

film you see a “woman throw herself off a cliff instead of being raped by a black man”.

Race and gender also play a role in this. “Many people consider rape to be a womens

issue, but lets take a closer look, what percentage of rape is committed by woman?

Rape is mostly committed by men but we call it a womens issue, shouldnt that tell us
something” (Katz, P. 1). It tells us that rape is not a womens issue. However Katz also

points out and tells us that “when a men’s role in gender violence is discussed in

newspaper articles, sensational TV, news coverage, or every day conversation the

focus is typically on men as perpetrators” (Katz, P.5). In this case the black man is

being seen as a “perpetrator” . It also connects to race because “the u.s refuses to see

itself as one nation sitting on a continent with 20 others” (Martinez, P. 134). The white

women decides to throw herself off the cliff because one, she does not want to be raped

but in this context the main image is shown to prove that black men are bad individuals.

It shows that she does not want to be touched by a black man because of his skin color,

she refuses to see that there are individuals in our society with different races and

different skin colors.

In the 13th documentary they expanded race and also talked about latinos as

well. They stated that “a bill that Alec innovated was SB 1070 and CCA was on the

ALEC task force that pushed that law that gave police the right to stop anyone they

thought looked like an immigrant”. This demonstrates that “white black relations have

defined racism for centuries, we need to consider seriously whether we can afford to

maintain an exclusively white/black model of racism when the population will be 32%

latino, asian/pacific american and native american in short, neither black nor white by

the year 2050” (Martinez, P. 134). Martinez is not trying to say that this is a “competition

among different social groupings for that “most oppressed” gold” (Martinez, P. 135). She

is just trying to state that there is also racism towards different social groups, not just

white on black.
 Like I mentioned previously, SB 1070 made it right for police to stop anyone that

looked like an immigrant. This shows that “color is the most outward manifestation of

race” (Martinez, P. 136).The readings also add to the 13th documentary because the

author Elizabeth Martinez tells us that “For white America, shades of skin color are

crucial to defining worth”(Martinez, P. 137). In this example the color of your skin gave

the right to someone who was from a superior social group to stop you. Just for looking

like an “immigrant”. The 13th documentary also added that with this SB 1070 bill

immigration facilities increased.

The 13th documentary also reminded us about when Donald Trump said that

“mexicans are rapist, murders, oh and some of them may be good people”. “The

discrimination oppression and hatred experienced by native americans, mexicans,

asian/pacific islanders, and arab americans are forms of racism”(Martinez, P.137). This

reading from week 8 adds to the 13th documentary that “in a land where the national

identity is white, having the “Wrong” nationality becomes grounds for racist

abuse”(Martinez, P.137).

The 13th documentary mentioned that the 13th amendment meant freedom for

slaves but not freedom for criminals so if you are criminalized that doesnt apply to you,

so with that being said African Americans were beginning to get arrested for extremely

minor crimes. Which is why if you look at the statistics like the 13th documentary

mentions, the United States is home to 25 percent of the world’s prisoners. The bureau

of justice reported that 1 in 3 young black males is expected to go to jail or prison during

his lifetime. The 13th documentary states that the U.S “has the highest rate of

incarceration in the world”. This shows why “black people across class live with constant
anxiety or fear that they will be the innocent targets of random racist assault” (Hooks, P.

11). bell hooks' reading adds to the 13th documentary because she mentions that

“Compared to whites, blacks suffer higher death rates” (Hooks, P.22). They suffer

higher death rates due to stress of being worried that they might be the target of a racist

attack. “It is evident that the vast majority of black people in our society do not live lives

of optimal well-being” (Hooks, P.24).

Going back to the 13th documentary I learned that civil rights activists began to

be portrayed in the media and among many politicians as criminals. The civil rights

movement was getting importance and this caused crime rates to go up. This shows

why many people are afraid to speak up. “ Nowadays, many black people/ people of

color have accepted that living with racism is just an unchanging fact of life” (Hooks, P.

11). This reading adds to the analysis of the 13th documentary because by giving up

and believing that racism will never change we are “colluding with all the unenlightened

racist white folks who embrace white supremacist thought and action” (Hooks, P.11).

I am a Mexican American woman and my race and gender connect to both the readings

and the 13th documentary in many ways. When I watched the 13th documentary I felt

like there was some kind of trauma when they mentioned what Donald Trump said

about mexicans. Going back to my notes I wrote this down and it caused me to feel

some type of way again. There was a sense of anger now because he said racist things

about mexicans. Such as “they're rapist, lazy and, murders”. The readings also connect

to my race and gender because since I am a hispanic woman many people believe that

mexican females are just at the border waiting for their husbands to cross them over but
martinez mentions that “if you thought latinos were just mexicans down at the border, to

wake up because they are all over” (Martinez, P.136).

When I watched the documentary the 13th I honestly felt very emotional because

I could not imagine what it’s like having to be an African American living in the United

States with so much racism going on. It's very shocking to see how many things have

happened in our history that relate back to people of color and are still happening now

in today's world.