In American History X, directed by Tony Kaye, a grade school student Danny Vinyard writes a paper about his older brother Derek Vinyard depicting his struggles as a past neo-nazi leader. Derek and Danny’s father, whom has racist tendencies, was murdered by a few black males while trying to put out a fire. The death of his father fuels Derek’s rage for racism, and he soon creates a gang called the Disciples of Christ. After dinner one night, Danny hears noise coming from their drive way. Outside their house, two black males are trying to steal their father’s truck. Derek walks out of his house with a gun and shoots one of the males. He then grabs the other male, drags him to the side of the road, and curb stomps to death. Derek is arrested, and sentenced to three years in prison for voluntary manslaughter. While in jail, Derek soon joins the Aryan Brotherhood, a …show more content…
Racism is the belief that a race is less of a human than another race. This means that a person may believe someone lacks human traits due to them having a different skin color, speak a different language, have different customs, or anything that may discriminate them as different. In chapter seven of The Moral of the Story: An Introduction to Ethics, the author explains that the concept of what is a human being is hard to define. The author elaborates on the definition of “human” by saying it all depends on perspective. She writes that there used to be a time in human existence when people distinguished between friends and enemies. If someone were their friends, they would use the term “human”, but if they were your enemy, they would be considered a beast, or less human. This beast, or less than human concept is what Derek, and many people associate with another race. Derek viewed people of other ethnicities as scum, and as a result, only viewed the white race as being
The Untied States of America was built on the exploitation of others and the expansion of foreign lands. Anglo-Saxon superiority and their successive impact on governing policies and strong domination throughout every social institution in the nation allowed discrimination to prevail. Scientific Racism reached new heights of justification towards slavery, the massive eradication of the Native people, colonialism and daily occurrences of unequal behaviors and treatments towards colored people. The strong presence of polygenesis helped spur along and justify racism; the idea that all non whites were groups of individuals who ultimately came from another type of species supporting the idea that Blacks, Natives and other colored people were not ‘real’ human beings. Traditions, legislation, domination and acceptance of such social norms allow racism to be principal whether it was apparent through slavery or hidden in new laws and policies to come. Every aspect of a colored person’s life was affected upon, Education, economic status, environmental location and political rights. Those who had the power within the court system followed the Anglo-Saxon ways, making any change difficult and time consuming to come across.
The article The new threat: “Racism without racists” does a good job at explain how bias people are when it comes to racism. Even though racism still exists today we should not let that define us and affect the society that we live in. The author puts his emphasis on three themes that I agree with and how it relates to the racism we have going on today.
Racism was a serious issue from the 1870’s to the 1900’s and seemed to be never ending. During this time, white people thought they were superior to all other races. They believed that all other races were inferior to them and treated them as if they were. They were brutal and nasty to them just because they were not the same race as them. During this time, the two major groups that were targeted were the Native Americans, African Americans, and Filipinos.
Looking back at the history of United States in the 1800s, clearly racism was everywhere, and slavery was a major part of society. In the 1900s, racial discrimination still played a major part in society as White Americans were given the rights which includes right to vote, schooling, employment, or the right to go to certain public places. Colored people, did not have the equal rights and freedom as White Americans, especially African-American who back then were turned into slaves. Despite the fact that formal racial discrimination was largely banned in the mid-20th century, this issue of racism still exist even in today's society. The problem with society is that stereotypical views of various races still play a role, like when people always
Let’s start with the definition of racism. Racism refers to the belief that race is the primary determinant of human capacities, that a certain race is inherently superior or inferior to others, and/or that individuals should be treated differently based on their ascribed race.
Yes East and West and North and South, the Palm and the pine, the pole and the equator, the crescent and the cross - how the great Alchemist melts and fuses them with his purging flame! Here shall they all unite to build the Republic of Man and the Kingdom of God. (Rereading America 535)
Racism (n): the prejudice that members of one race are intrinsically superior to members of other race (Wordnet search, 1), a controversial topic in today’s society, a subject that many people try to sweep under the rug, but yet a detrimental problem that has been present in America since the colonial era. Will this dilemma come to a halt? Can all Americans see each other as equals despite their skin color and nationality; and what role has it played in past generations versus today’s generations and how will it affect our future? Has this on going way of thinking gotten better or worse? These are questions raised when many think about the subject; especially members of American ethnic groups and backgrounds, because most have dealt with racial discrimination in their life time.
The dynamic that greatly contributes to the efficiency of American History X, is the illustrious acting. Edward Norton flawlessly plays Derek Vinyard, the main character in American History X, who is angered by the murder of his father by two African-American persons who then, therefore, turns to the world of Neo-Nazism searching for comfort toward his father’s death and for further justification for the hatred he has towards the murderers. After being released from prison for serving a three-year sentence of manslaughter after brutally murdering two black individuals, Derek comes out a changed man who no longer persecutes blacks and other minority figures for invading and tragically altering the life of “true” Americans. Edward Norton is more than perfect for this role. In his “Believe Me” film review site, Jeffery Huston explains, “With this performance, Norton emerges as one of the very best actors working in film today.” Norton’s performance was indeed electrifying. One particular scene in the film that shows the phenomenal talent he possesses, is the incident that shows us what his character was incarcerated for. After brutally murdering two black victims, police quickly arrive and begin to place Derek under arrest. Norton shines as his character is being seized; as he sets his hands on his head and slowly turns, he meets eyes with his horrified brother, Danny, who witnessed everything, and triumphantly smirks as the sinister expression in his glistening eyes reveals unsettling satisfaction, then smugly raises his eyebrows as if asking his younger brother if he is impressed.
The idea of Race wasn’t always how it is perceived today. In fact, the concept and idea of race are relatively new. In the early modern period, race was constructed based on culture and physical traits and was used to establish a power structure throughout society. Racism in the American West was like other places of the world because each region used race to establish the superiority of European people.
Racism is the mistreatment of a group of people on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, place of origin, or ancestry. The term racism may also denote a blind and unreasoning hatred, envy, or prejudice (Dimensions of Racism). Racism has had a strong effect on society. Despite the many efforts made to alleviate racism, what is the future of African Americans' Racism's long history, important leaders, current status, and future outlook will be the main factors in determining how to combat racism. Racism is still present in many societies, although many people are doing their best to put an end to racism and its somewhat tragic ordeals.
During English class this year, we studied and explored through literature and film, how racism and prejudice have affected and shaped our past, present and near future. Through books such as To Kill a Mockingbird, American Born Chinese, House on Mango Street and movies like White/Black, my perspective on the topic of racism opened up and changed. Before this study, I had not realized how so much of American history has been shaped by racism and prejudice and how it continues to impact present times. By reading House on Mango Street, and To Kill a Mocking Bird I was exposed to how racism impacted the lives of the characters and by reading and watching American Born Chinese, and White/Black I was made aware of how racism still occurs today. I found it shocking how serious and complex the problem of racism continues to be, and how many people are affected by it daily. An example of the media that really altered my perspective was when our class watched the documentary called White/Black. In this documentary, they found a white family and a black family willing to have makeup artists change their looks so that the white family looked like a black family and the black family, a white one. One of the requirements was that each family had to live with the other for the duration of the documentary. When the white family came into the shared house, the mother said that they should make sure they protect their personal belongings, because she feared the black family might steal them. By doing so, she revealed deep prejudices and a racist misconception that being black is associated with being a criminal. Another example was when the father of the black family, who looked “white” went into a golf store to buy shoes and play golf. Afterward he said that he was treated so differently because he appeared “white”. Both these scenes shocked me because I had never realized how large of a problem racism continues to be today and how it affects almost everyone.
Black youths arrested for drug possession are 48 times more likely to wind up in prison than white youths arrested for the same crime under the same circumstances. Many people are unaware how constant racism has been throughout the years. It is important to understand the problems of racism because it is relevant to society. Racism in America is very real and Americans need to know it.
In a nutshell, racism is prejudice and discrimination based on your race. Or short story long, it is a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race. In Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, there are many examples throughout the novel that show he is racist. Huck Finn is racist because he thinks that all blacks are the same, he believes that whites are superior to blacks, and he doesn’t consider blacks as people.
Derek Vinyard is a character in the film American History X. He is a great example of an anti-hero. Before prison, Derek Vinyard character is really unlikeable and he is sickening. He was a true definition of a villain. He is a former neo-Nazi who organizes crimes to destroy families and humiliate people. He even treats his own family with disrespect, such as in a scene where he grabbed his sister by her hair and shoves food down her throat. Later he spent three years in jail for man slaughtering two black men. He shot one and the other, he brutally curb-stomped to death outside his house for trying to steal his truck. In prison, he becomes friendly with a black inmate and was rapped by members of the Aryan Brotherhood. Upon release from prison,
“Racism is generally defined as actions, practices or beliefs, or social or political systems that are based in views that see the human species to be divided into races with shared traits, abilities, or...