Report on: American History X

Recently we watched a movie called American History X. It touched on a lot of major subjects such as gang violence and racism, which has been passed on from generation to generation. It also asked questions like, what were their racist ideas really based on, how did racism effect the community, can racism be reshaped by actual experiences, and how or why racism to begin with? Racism has been the main topic in the judicial system, police affairs, and racially divided communities for years but it’s neither disappearing nor growing to this today.

In this movie the main character was a man named Derek. After the death of his father, due to gang violence, he became a racist to all others but white people. He blamed the lack of jobs and poor wages on the blacks and immigrants. In an interview he had after the death of his father he stated that, it’s all the blacks fault for all the violence in their neighborhood. He also said that, they brought all the diseases like AIDS and it’s their problem and why did they have to bring it to the white people. Before he vandalized a store, owned by a Chinese man, with his other racist friends he told them why they were doing this. He told them that these immigrates come here an instead of looking for the American dream they come and take advantage of it and by firing those who worked there before and hiring Mexicans and blacks, that are willing to work at a low-wage, they make more money. So he and his friends need to show them that they indeed don’t belong here and no one wants them here.

After brutally killing two people, in cold blood, Derek was arrested and sentenced to six years in prison. In prison, there were some like him and had the same thoughts but didn’t stay true to their beliefs. He wondered why did his fellow skin-heads had confrontations with others outside of the group for product and merchandise and then turned around and sell it to his own. This kind of activity puzzled Derek who later in the movie came to the realization that there is nothing wrong about talking to blacks and others. Slowly, as the months passed, in jail he started developing a new found respect for everyone no matter their color or race, he started talking to his black laundry folding partner, and stopped hanging or talking to his Nazi friends . Plus, the books that Dr. Sweeney gave him kept showing him the error of his ways and how other racists manipulate young minds into believing their lies and doing their evil deeds. Also, the books revealed that justice was blind to race no matter what you are if you’ve done wrong you will be punished and that they are all equal in the end.

Even I have been treated with racism in my life once. I was 14 years old and I was a freshman at John Dewey High School. I used to play a card game called YU-GI-OH it was very fun and it was an easy way to meet a lot of people, and that I did. One day, I was just about to go home when this kid wanted to trade me for a card I had, that’s what you did in the game play and trade, so I said okay. He said lets go to my house and trade so I went. We