Reaction on American History X: To be racial or to be not

I have watched the movie American History X recently. It's a story of hatred for black people by the whites particularly Derek, the main actor of the film. It started when his father was murdered by some black individuals but towards the end of the movie, his younger brother Danny told that Derek's anger was only heightened when their father was killed. For Danny, the racial issue started over a discussion during meal time when their father cautioned them of the black people. Their father cited some instances where black people were given the priority over the whites. This insight has influenced the way Derek perceived things about the blacks and other races. Derek's biases had caused him to murder some black individuals who went into their premises and broke his car. Eventually, Derek was imprisoned while Danny continued to uphold the negative prejudices against the blacks. In the prison cell, Derek has experienced a new environment. There were black and white prisoners of different cases. He worked inside with a black inmate who made things meaningful for him but he was raped by some white men. This incident has totally changed his views. When Derek got out of the prison through the help of Mr. Sweeney, a black policeman, he wanted to change things for his family. He became responsible and told Danny about his experiences inside the prison and the reason he wanted to quit in their organization against the black. He was doing this because he realized that his family is important to him most specially his brother Danny who looks up to him with great regard. Things turned out tragically when Danny was shot by a black student who feels the same way against the white. It's so ironical that Danny's death happened when Derek was determined to alter his hatred towards the black people.

It can be drawn from this movie that racism is demeaning. Racial discrimination defeats rational thinking. Whatever race we have doesn't matter much on how we should deal with humanity. To be racial is to accuse falsely the person based on biases and not on truth. It is generalizing things based on few examples that are not true to all. Let us remember that in every race there is good and bad. To determine this is not in the part of the racial sense. Racism is an express way to hate and hate is indeed a baggage.