They both express racism as a problem in the world. They also both represent how if the black people are to be killed, they don’t want it to be because the white men want them to go. They want their death to be a symbol of freedom, saying that there will be a day when everyone will be treated the same, and the white men will have to play fair.
In the poem, “If We Must Die” there is a line that says, “If we must die, let it not be like hogs.” This is important because in the movie “A Lesson Before Dying” the word that motivates, that tears apart, that sparks determination in the colored people is the word “hog.”