African American Studies Essay

Submitted By reinahill
Words: 1450
Pages: 6

Reina
Washington
AAS 100
30 November 2012
African American Studies

Two films we viewed in class were Higher Learning and American History X. Each of these movies did an excellent job of showing each of the sides of the racial divide in our country. But on the other hand each movie could show a very biased view on the way each race thinks if each one was not showed to the audience. In Higher Learning the story is meant to show how badly African Americans are treated in the world and how unfair things can be at time for the black race. It shows unfair treatment from not only the common civilian but also law enforcement. Throughout the movie you see how the African americans are being affected by the hate crimes that are taking place on the Columbus Univeristy campus. They are always blamed for any major problems that happen, and are always the first to be reprimanded by the law officials. You also see that a lot of the African American males have it much worse than the females and also have the mindset that its them against the world; and no matter how hard they try to succeed it will never happen if the white man is in charge. By the end of the movie it has you thinking that no matter the times things will never change and there will always be slanted treatment for the different races. American History X also shows the racially divided ways of a white pride teenager and why and when he began to think and act the way he does. By the end of this movies, the audiences views are more towards how cruel Caucasian individuals and white supremacy can be but how bad it can be; in the end when the superior race get turn on by their own people. They should continue to show students these movies, because it first hand shows that all of the hate that happens in our country ends badly for everyone. No matter who you are or where you are from when these hate crimes happen it destroys our country. People today need to worry about not bringing it into our youth’s live and teaching them bad things that will corrupt their minds even more. Everyone know that children’s minds can be some of the most influential and so it is now that we should start protecting them from the dangers of the world and the bad things it holds. In today’s society the question is what is the government doing to help with the problems around the country. There is a need for some method of making sure that all job applicants are treated fairly, and people are admitted into schools on a fair basis. But this simple term "affirmative action" is creating a lot of animosity against blacks because majority groups feel threatened when they feel that a certain group is gaining more than they are. If we look at our society today, white people are under stress-the standard of living is threatened, and they only have to look down the street to find someone to blame. And the scapegoat is "affirmative action." This is human nature. At no time in our history have people been so full of hate and envious of others than today and we just don't need anything to set people off.
The perception that blacks and other minorities are climbing up the social ladder of success because of their race is a false notion that needs to be cleared. We are living in a fast paced technological society where millions of middle-age white males are being displaced. These males are looking for scapegoats and the scapegoat just happens to be racial minorities. Racism is a set of beliefs or actions, which view a person or group as inferior to another person or group because of their physical appearance, such as the color of their skin. While it has most been perpetrated in the U.S. by people of European descent against various other groups, such as African-Americans or Latinos, racism also figures into tensions between various other groups; for example, look at the longstanding friction between African-American and Asian-American populations in some parts of the United States. As the United States