The Farm: Angola, U.S.A. is a chilling examination of prison life in the Louisiana State Penitentiary. Although the documentary is set almost entirely within the penitentiary, the issues it addresses emanate from outside the prison’s gates. The directors present the unjust captivity and unfair treatment of Angola’s inmates as a microcosm of the pervasive, systemic oppression of African-Americans in the United States.
Before it was acquired by the state government in 1901, Angola was a plantation that relied on slave labor imported from Africa. The directors draw parallels between antebellum Angola and present-day Angola by devoting screen time to images of African-American inmates sowing seeds on the prison’s farm for only a few cents an hour. These visuals combined with a narrator’s description of 19th-century slavery argue that Angola is the face of neo-slavery; no governmental proclamation, act, or institution has effectively uprooted the South’s supremacist paradigm.
One might attempt to invalidate the directors’ argument by pointing out that the films’ subjects are murderers--not commodified abductees, but The Farm rebuts with the story of Vincent Simmons. 30 years after a jury determined he was guilty of rape, Vincent Simmons maintains his innocence and actively pursues an evidentiary hearing. In the film, he references legal documents that quote his accuser admitting she could not pick Simmons out in a crowd because “all blacks look alike” and the judge responds that “someone must be arrested.” The filmmakers bolster Simmons’s story with archival photographs that reveal unethical and racially discriminatory legal action against Simmons. The plaintiff’s and judge’s demand for a scapegoat edited against the archival photographs portray Simmons as a man of color who was torn from his home and denied autonomy in order to gratify a white community; in this light, Simmons is a slave. This syllogism is a potent rhetorical strategy; those who argue that the subjects are, legally, perpetrators and should not be cast as victims are forced to admit the legal system central to their argument is fallible.
In class, we talk about ways documentaries “give a voice to the voiceless,” and I definitely understand the value of that aim after watching The Farm: Angola, U.S.A. Once a casualty of systemic racial prejudice lands in Angola, they are silenced and forgotten. The Farm links these inmates to those who are at liberty to fight for equality.
I want to see this... This topic has come up in a lot of things I have watched this semester so far. There is a lot of grey area.... yes, these men are in neo-slavery in a sense, but they also are criminals or else why would they be in prison in the first place. It would be easy to pick one side to advocate for, but it sounds like this filmmaker did a pretty good job of showing both sides. Out of curiosity, what is the ratio of black prisoners to white prisoners in the Louisiana state penitentiary?
ReplyDeleteFrom Wikipeda:
DeleteLouisiana State Penitentiary is the largest correctional facility in the United States by population.[99] In 2010 the prison had 5,100 inmates and 1,700 employees.[100] In 2010, the racial composition of the inmates was 76% black, 24% white; 71% of inmates were serving a life sentence and 1.6% had been sentenced to death.[101]
Also from Wikipedia:
According to the 2010 US census, the population of Louisiana was:[73]
White Americans – 63.7% (59.9% non-Hispanic white, 3.8% White Hispanic)
Black or African American – 30.4%
Asian – 2.8%
Multiracial American – 1.6%
Native American – 1.0%
some other race – 1.5%
Hispanic or Latino of any race - 6.5%
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You raise an important point; it is, perhaps, safe to assume most inmates in American prisons are guilty of a crime. But what motivates individuals to commit crimes? Why do African-Americans occupy the majority of prison cells in a state with a White majority? Communities of color that are stuck in cyclical poverty do not have access to the same education, means, and prospects as their whiter, more affluent communities. Consider Raymond Santana of THE CENTRAL PARK FIVE; a man guilty of juvenile foolishness is incarcerated for a decade, re-enters the real world as a registered sex offender, and resigns himself to drug dealing because "sex-offending felon" doesn't look too hot on a resume. Drug dealing is a crime, and the drugs he sold have probably ruined plenty of people's lives. But Santana is still a victim. Perhaps if he had a friend or relative or mentor who could network him into a job or help him get by, Santana might not have committed the crime he did, but that simply isn't a reality in the community he is in. I do not wish to excuse his behavior; however, I do think his story is not unique. Maybe if the government would put more effort into improving access to education in these communities crimes such as street-corner drug-dealing and prostitution would be as taboo as they are in the communities where a college degree is not only considered attainable but an expectation.
Sorry about the soapbox speech. By no means was it aimed at you. Just throwing words out on the internet. :)
Isn't it great that we have the medium of documentary to give that voice to the voiceless?
ReplyDeleteVery interesting questions you raise there Jessie. I also had some similar thoughts. I wonder with the manipulative power of filmmaking, especially in such controversial topics, if some of these thoughts don't even register as you watch the film.
I haven’t seen this documentary yet, but I definitely want to after your post, Helen.
ReplyDeleteThe equation of the lives of African-American inmates to slavery is a powerful tool that I feel is probably utilized for the purpose of getting the audience invested. Most people in the Western world today are repulsed by the notion of slavery. Anything to do with slavery is decried from the rooftops, and rightfully so. This juxtaposition seems like a direct appeal to emotion, while still including valid points on the state of our prison systems today and what might be improved, particularly in the South, where there are still elements of white-supremacy lurking from a hundred years ago.
It seems like the The Farm wants to further incite the audience to action by giving the plight of African-American inmates a face, that of Vincent Simmons. Most problems become much more personal and identifiable when they are attached to a spokesperson (i.e. Rosa Parks, Ghandi, etc.), probably because it is easier to sympathize with another human being than to be concerned with broad and nebulous concepts. Regardless of whether Vincent Simmons is innocent or guilty, it sounds like he faced undue prejudice from the legal system and that his trial became more like a witch hunt. The podcast “Serial”, which I listened to, had a protagonist named Adnan with a similar experience. At his murder trial, his Islamic heritage was used against him by the prosecuting attorney, who inflamed the jury members with gross misinformation and mischaracterization about his religion and cultural background. In the end, the jury and the Adnan’s community wanted someone to blame, and so they went for the Islamic ex-boyfriend.
While there are definitely improvements that should be made in the legal and prison systems, especially in the area of eliminating prejudice, I would be curious to hear the director’s point of view on the flip side of the coin. A situation in which the legal system is afraid to act because they are worried about being labelled as racist is equally grim. It was recently brought to light that a series of rape gangs in Rotherham, England were allowed to operate for sixteen years because the police and government officials were afraid of the implications of arresting gang members, who were predominantly Pakistani men. The police in this case were also eager for someone to blame, and so they ended up arresting the rape victims and their parents.
On either side of the fence, racism, bias, and prejudice are cancers that need to be excised from our justice system if we wish to make it truly just. Documentaries like The Farm, which raise awareness of these concerns and the people that they touch, are a step in the right direction.
Very good post Helen.
ReplyDelete