Racism In The Film 'Freedom Writers'

‘Racism can be constructed through the perpetuation of racial stereotypes. These stereotypes can be deconstructed through education and learning about who people really are under the superficial layer of their skin.’

The concept of race was constructed as a means of classifying human beings with the intent of making some people seem superior, while making other people seem inferior. This concept gave the people deemed “superior” power, a notion which those people then used as a way of justifying their actions on those which they deemed “inferior”. This is the basis of racism and it continues to modern times as a result of ignorance and prejudice. Therefore, racism can only be deconstructed through education and communication

Racism is a social construct that is still highly prevalent in modern times and in order to be able to deconstruct it, we need to know how it was constructed and perpetuated throughout history.

In the film, “Freedom Writers”, racism is shown to be

Gang crime in Long Beach is extremely prevalent and stems mainly out of racism. People of different racial groups stereotyped, feared and hated each other and violence was their way of dealing with the situation. This violence did not only negatively impact the community when someone was killed, however, it also perpetuated the feelings of fear and hatred. Another way in which the movie highlighted the negative consequences of racism was through classroom 203. Children who came from disadvantaged communities were placed in this classroom as a result of the gaps in their education, however, these students were discriminated upon as they were percieved to be educationally incapable and funds were often witheld from this classroom. This lowered standard of education would negatively affect these students in their later lives by reducing their job opportunities or access to tertiary education, thereby trapping them in a cycle of