Back To The Hood Summary

Part l: In these two lectures, Dr. Jendian talked about prejudice and discrimination that has happened recently and how it continues even today. We were required to watch the documentary “Back to the Hood” and write a discussion online and then we had a discussion in class. Dr. Jendian stated in regard to this documentary that prejudice has became an excuse for others actions just like when the Korean store owner shot and killed fifteen year old Latasha Harlins. Because this Korean women was scared of African Americans robbing their stores she had the perception that all African Americans had this mindset so when Latasha walked in her store holding a bottle of juice this store owner automatically thought she was stealing when Latasha was actually

planning to pay for the juice. As Latasha left the juice on the counter and turned her back to walk away the Korean store owner shot her in the back of the head and she died instantly.

In chapter 5 Feagin (145) states, “Racial barriers persist because a substantial majority of whites still harbor some anti black stereotypes, prejudices, images, and interpretations, and because a large minority are very negative in their perspectives.” Some people might have these prejudices and stereotypes of African Americans it is morally wrong to put every African American under these negative categories. Dr. Jendian also talked about the two term social triage and how the police reacted differently in downtown LA versus Beverly Hills. He explained this term as when you abandon the weakest sectors in society. He also connects this term to the documentary “Back to the Hood” because the police left the scene of the riots in LA in 1992 and they decided not to block off the roads during the riot but instead they went to block off the roads in Beverly Hills because they wouldn’t know how to protect themselves from all the chaos that was happening during these

riots.
Part ll: Regarding prejudice and discrimination that is still happening today, I believe these are negative factors to society. I agree with Feagin when he says people have racial behaviors toward black Americans or other Americans of color because they have these negative stereotypes and interpretations so they assume every black American or other Americans of color are like this. I strongly believe that racially discriminating someone because you have a negative stereotype or prejudice toward other people of their race is unacceptable because people should be judged based on their actions not by their race. When I was in high school I knew this girl the same grade as me and she was “scared” of African Americans. She explained that she was scared because when she was little her house was robbed and the suspects were two African American males. Because this girl had the image and perceptions that African Americans robbed her house she assumed all African Americans had this negative behavior. If I could go back I would tell this girl that she is discriminating all African Americans because of this one incident and that is not how she should have her mindset because she is judging off their race not their behaviors or actions.
Part lll: The most interesting thing about the lectures and discussions from class was the song April 29, 1992 song by Sublime.

I listen to Sublime and I love their songs, but I have never listened to this particular song before and it was really shocking listening and reading the lyrics. This song is about the LA riots and its about their own stance during this time. The beginning of the song is about looting and how they take alcohol, furniture, and musical instruments during the riot, then it talks about the stance of other people of the riot and how they are taking pampers which focuses of the social class of these people because they are stealing necessities not luxuries. I thought this song was a real “eye-opener” because you can almost experience the riots of LA and you can see two different perspectives, the perspective of these musicians and the perspective of people in need. The lyrics and perspectives of this song will impact my behavior because now I know there was different stances in the LA riots of 1992. There were people that were part of the riot stealing liquor and other luxuries but then there were people stealing necessities because they had the chance to actually get the things they

need.