Stereotypes and Racism in American History X and Today
Stereotypes and Racism in American History X and Today
Both in American History X and in our current situation there are many related issues that tie into racism and stereotyping. The people in these situations enact hate crimes when they have been directly effected by other acts of violence. Thus, falsely assuming that an entire group is responsible for an individual’s actions, leads to stereotyping. These assumptions result in negativity and hate crimes that are nothing but harmful and destructive. The act of seeking out revenge by harming an entire classification of people due to stereotyping is ignorance in its purest form and causes the vicious cycle of hatred to continue.
Edward Norton portrays Derek, a neo-Nazi reacting to influences and situations in his life that parallel those of the tragedies and hate crimes since September 11th. Derek’s first act of violence in the film was self defense, which mirrored the United States in their efforts of bombing Afghanistan. Derek was trying to defend his family and his property, against an invasion on while the United States protected national security by retaliating against terrorism on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Derek’s aggression ran much deeper than just basic protection because it was rooted with racism. Due to the fact that his father was murdered by an African American, Derek began to view people with the same ethnicity as equal, if not lower to, the man that killed his father. America now has a similar outlook on Muslims and Arabs solely because of the few individuals that contributed to the acts of terrorism on Sept. 11th. Hate crimes against people of Arab decent have massively increased and the justification for these actions are simply out of revenge. The direct relation of why Derek began discriminating against blacks and why the United States is presently stereotyping Arabs and Muslims is a reaction to lusting for payback and revenge.
The rage that stems from senseless acts of violence in both cases is a result of the victim franticly trying to make the culprit pay. Derek subconsciously decided that he needed to make up for his feelings of loss and helplessness by going after anyone who, in his mind, was associated with his father’s murderer. He took full advantage of the opportunity at hand when black gang members tried to invade his home. Instead of acting rationally, Derek reacted with instinct...