Reel and Meal is a monthly film series at the New Deal Cafe exploring vital environmental, animal rights, and social justice issues. Admission to the film is always free, sponsored by several Greenbelt community organizations. Contributions are gladly accepted to cover each month’s donation to a non-profit organization.
Reel and Meal events are in-person (limited seating) and online via Zoom. Each month registration links will be posted here. You can also reach out to Reel and Meal at
Date: Third Monday of every month Time: The free film starts at 7pm. Dinner: Dinners are available at the café after 4pm with several plant-based options. Carryout: The Co-Op Supermarket Meatless Monday meals can be picked up from the “grab and go” for Zoom at-home viewing after 11am. Location: Online or at the New Deal Cafe – 113 Centerway in historic Greenbelt, MD Public transportation: The cafe is accessible by Metro Buses G12, 13, 14 and 16 from the Greenbelt Metro station.
February 20, 2017
13th
13th, Ava DuVernay’s 2016 film about race and incarceration, takes its name from the 13th amendment, which abolished slavery except as “punishment for crime.”
People of color remain dramatically overrepresented in U.S. prisons. This documentary traces current mass incarceration of African Americans to its historical origins in the Thirteenth Amendment; the clause allowing forced labor for criminals was exploited immediately in the aftermath of the civil war. DuVernay connects the abolition of slavery, through the chain gang labor that replaced it, through segregation and “the mythology of black criminality”, to the war on crime and the war on drugs to the rise in mass incarceration and the big business of prisons. Between the lines, “13th” boldly asks whether African Americans have actually ever truly been “free” in our country. This provocative film has been justifiably nominated for this year’s Oscar.
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