Racism in Movies

The discourse that all black people are second class citizens and prone to uncivilized hooligan behaviour was a truth that started off during the colonisation of America back in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. After the European settlers slaughtered countless numbers of Native American Indians, they imported folks from Africa to come and labour in America as slaves on plantations and in construction. The Europeans viewed them as inferior human beings who are irrational, disorderly, prone to uncivilized behaviour and practically subhuman. So what was it that made the Europeans believe that black people were indeed a savage Race? It was the notion of Darwinism, philosophised by Charles Darwin in the 1880s that allowed such discourses to be maintained and accepted as truth. Darwin believed that different groups of human beings or Races evolved over hundreds and thousands, even millions of years at different rates and times, and so, some groups were more like their ape- like ancestors than others. He held certain that the black Race came from gorillas and were the least developed, whereas the white Race came from chimpanzees and were the highest, most evolved Race. Therefore the white Race was naturally and biologically seen as being more superior to any other Race. This view was assumed to be proven and thus lead to the idea that social relationships are natural. As a result, permanent black inferiority remained the dominant scientific hypothesis. By the 1920s, text books supported the idea that man had evolved from a lower life form developing into varying degrees of accomplishment. Information such as, white people being naturally superior and black people being inferior and more ape-like, was commonly reflected in science books published from 1880 to 1980. The fact that racial prejudice became naturalised, universalised and seen as being a scientific fact, explains why attitudes of racial inferiority have continued to plague western cul ture. For example, statistics show that the majority of white people in America believe that African Americans are more violent, less intelligent and not as hard working as white people.

In The Hurricane, directed by Rudy Langlais discourses of black inferiority was upheld by powerful institutions such as the legal system, as police officers had the right to arrest and punish black people without significant proof of their conviction. For example, when young Rubin Carter was forced into a police station after being wrongfully accused of harming a white man, the police sergeant had said to the officer, Its a nigger with a knife. I dont care how old he is. Take care of him. The judge at the hearing had then said to Rubin, I only wish you were old enough, Id send you to state prison. These examples show that societal power reinforces discourses as it persuades people into taking up the dominant position of the discourse. As explained by Robinson and Jones-Diaz, those peop le who are located outside the dominant discourse, in this case the black people, will frequently experience inequities, diminished power, and little or no support from the dominant culture for their truths about the world.

In the film, Rubin (Hurricane) Carter takes on the belief that all white people are racists. After spending almost twenty years in state prison, Rubin expresses a feeling of shock and hate when his African American friend introduces him to three white folks who want to help Rubin get out of prison. Rubin says to his African American friend, I dont want to talk to them, just go. However, the three white folks, determined to release Rubin, challenge white supremacy after being threatened by white authorities to stay away from Rubin and leave town. The white woman strongly defies this threat by telling the authorities that she was not going to leave the town until she sees Rubin get set free. The white citizens in the film, for that reason, are directl y challenging white supremacy and racial injustice. Hence, the discourse that all white people are racists have been challenged, and the truth that Rubin held in relation to this discourse had been deconstructed and reconstructed, leading him to a new and a more equitable way of looking at the world.

In conclusion, it can be said that Race and Racism is a complex issue that has been historically and culturally constructed over a long period of time. Racial attitudes still prevail in American society today because it has been so heavily engraved in the construction of their history. Now that we know that no Race is superior to another, the word Race should be abandoned completely because it is now meaningless. Scientists have found that differences that set us apart are cultural, not racial (Jim, 2002). That is why the word Race has been place in inverted commas throughout this essay. The idea of white identity in dominance must also be abandoned so that everyone can be more accepting of cultural diversity flourishing in society and acknowledge the hybridity of people today. These issues have a strong impact upon educators, as they must implement appropriate strategies to help students feel comfortable and proud of their own culture when entering into a dominant culture.

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Author:: Sharon White
Keywords:: Africa, American, Indians, European, Race, Racism, Movies
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