Shippensburg University’s College Democrats and criminal justice department recently presented a showing of the documentary “13th” in the Ceddia Union Building’s Orndorff Theatre.

Introduced by College Democrats President Aven Bittinger, the 2016 Ava DuVernay documentary chronicled the treatment of African-Americans from the signing of the United States Constitution’s 13th Amendment to present day.

The documentary cited D. W. Griffith’s film “The Birth of a Nation” for white America’s perception of African-Americans as a threat to society.

“Race is a social construct. What I mean by that is when we come out of the womb, we have no concept of race,” said SU criminal justice professor Stephanie Jirard.

Following the signing of former President Lyndon Johnson’s Civil Rights Act in 1964 racial tensions eased but continued to brew due to the passing of legislation that made it harder for African-Americans to adapt to American society, according to DuVernay’s documentary.

In 1970, for instance, the number of people incarcerated in American prisons was 357,292. In the next decade, the number of imprisoned Americans rose by more than 200,000 people, according to DuVernay.

U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel blamed former President Ronald Reagan’s War on Drugs campaign for the sharp increase in United States prison populations and the effect it had on African-Americans.

The implementation of harsh sentencing for drug use led to unnecessary occupied prison cells, Rangel said.

“Mandatory sentencing for the use and possession of crack cocaine led to unnecessarily long sentences,” Rangel said.

The documentary concluded with video footage of violence at several of President Donald Trump’s campaign rallies, encapsulating DuVernay’s message that the 13th Amendment did not change the societal perspective of African-Americans.

“When you make people afraid, you can always justify putting them in the garbage can,” said Corey Greene, one of the documentary’s guest speakers.

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