American History X Essay, Research Paper

Racism can be defined as the belief that one race is superior to all other races. Racism has been around for centuries however, today there are not as many openly prejudice people. Some are racist against others merely because the color of another s skin color or religious differences. They focus on others outside features other than the inner characteristics one has. American History X is a great movie that will make racist people take a second thought about their views on other people and other ethnic backgrounds that differ from their own. There is racism all over the world, some places more than others so to me the movie doesn t portray racism that I have seen. But, there may have been similar acts of prejudice done in other parts of the world everyone has either been a victim of racism or have participated in an act of racism.

At first in the movie there is a message that racism specifically against Africa Americans is sensed. Derrick, a young so called Nazi skinhead is making racial slurs and comments about the African American race. He influences his little brother Danny to carry out the same beliefs as he does. He gets sent to jail for the murder of two African American men. I believe that if the men who were robbing his car were Caucasian he wouldn t have gone to the extent of killing two of them. He gets a whole new meaning of life and different views on people who aren t like him. The ironic thing about it the person who helps change his ways is a person of color unlike himself. That is when the mood in the movie changes. The mood gets sort of well not evil and violent. Derrick changes his ways and tries to get his brother to do the same. He semi-succeeds but in the end his brother is killed bye a African American person at school. It is always good to see a person who is so set in their beliefs changes their ways. Some of the acts in the movie are highly exaggerated. They go into a grocery store and pour milk on a Hispanic woman and asked her if she liked it and said it would take away some of the color. I don t think there are any Nazi skinheads in the United States today, and if there are the numbers are very few. Today it is hard to tell if acts of violence are done because of racial reasons because being racist isn t the so-called cool thing to be these days. However recent crimes have been said to have some racial motivations. American History X is a great example of a highly racist person turning over a new leaf and becoming more accepting of other races. There is always going to be racism all over the globe. It is one of those things that is always going to be around. I wish everyone who is prejudice could turn his or her life around just like Derrick did. Stereotypes are also a big part of why people are racist. Italian people are always in the mafia, Jewish people are cheap, and, African American People and Hispanics are criminals and on welfare. Since we will never get rid of stereotypes therefore we will never get rid of racism. The United States has come a very long way since the days of slavery. There are hundreds of different ethnic groups in New York and all over the U.S. The message that I got out of the movie was basically don t judge a book by it s cover. Derrick hated or despised those who weren t Caucasian. But after he got to know just one person who was different of him he changed his mind.