Racial Tension In Remember The Titans

Based on a true story, the award winning movie, Remember the titans, released in 2000, stars Denzel Washington as African American coach Herman Boone and Will Patton as Caucasian coach Bill Yoast. Remember the Titans takes place in the early 1970’s in Alexandria, VA. The movie is based on the integration of a black school with a white school known as T.C. Williams High. Racial tension is raised within the community when the first African American, Coach Herman Boone, is hired. Coach Boone takes the head coach position from coach Yoast, which did not come as a welcome change. The two coaches set aside their differences in the best interest of their newly integrated football team. The team constantly fights throughout the duration of football

camp, including the two captains, Julius Campbell (Wood Harris) and Gerry Bertier (Ryan Hurst) Once the team realize they are all their for the same reason despite their racial differences, that is when the team overcomes the racial conflicts and becomes one.
In today’s society, racial conflict is still very much present. Societies are defined by inequality that produces conflict, rather than which produces order and consensus. The racial conflict theory is just one sub-category of the social conflict theory. The idea that one race or ethnicity is better than another has always existed. Using the racial conflict theory when evaluating the movie Remember the Titans was the most obvious theory to choose because the movie is based around the integration of two different races and the conflicts and challenges incurred during said integration.
As soon as the football players arrive at camp, one can see the race-conflict is evident.

Conflict theory proposes that members with in two different groups of society will compete over the same limited resources. In terms of Remember the Titans the two groups within the society, which can be referenced as the football team, are the two different races on the team, the whites and the blacks. This theory plays out when the two races fight and compete over their playing times and starting positions. The white players, just like the black players, for a lack of a better word, played dirty to ensure a starting position for themselves or a teammate of the same

race.
Because of this LACK OF CONFIRMITY coach Boone instructs all the players to room and spend time with another teammate of the opposite race to learn things about each other and their families. Because of these instructions, racial stereotyping, one side of the race-conflict theory- is exhibited. At one point a white player sits down with a player of a different color an asks “What does your daddy do?” In an attempt to learn more about his teammate. Before the black player had a chance to respond the white player says “You do have a daddy, right?” With these statements the white player exhibited racial stereotyping by making assumptions based upon his teammates appearance and placed him in a racial category.
Coach Boone continues to work with the team to overcome the racial obstacles to reach the main goal of having a united team.

As football camp ended and the team returned back to their community, the race-conflict was not over. The community itself still did not want to integrate. Just a couple examples of the community not willing to integrate was showed by the diner not allowing one of the black football players into the diner along with his fellow white teammates. It’s just like when the girlfriend of Gerry Bertier did not even want to shake the hand of Julius Campbell. Race-conflict can also be seen thru racial profiling. Racial profiling is typically defined as the police use of race to enact law enforcement activity. When Julius was on his way to Gerry’s house, a cop stopped him. Julius was very nervous because he knew police officers liked to racially profile, but fortunately, the officer was just stopping him to congratulate him and the football

team.
If you look at it closely the movie is not about football, it’s about young men who embraced their differences versus seeing them as an unpassable obstacle. The racial-conflict theory, though society has made steps to improve it, can still be seen today. Just the coaches Boone and Yoast confronted prejudice obstacles while coaching the T.C. Williams Titans, their determination to create a united front eventually resonated not only on the football field but throughout the community.;