Derek's Father example essay topic

This movie begs to the viewer to think about the views of black and white. With the issues raised in this movie, one must write it down to get the full effect of all that is going on in this movie. One of the ideas in this movie is to show that a person, who can see both sides of an issue, can make better decisions based on that knowledge. That is the key to well rounded idea. What can be learned from American History X? In a conflict there are at least two points of view.

If you don't know both sides how do you know you are right? To know both sides makes you better prepared to argue your case or to make a decent decision. Along those same lines you must do the research. Taking someone else's opinion is not the same as doing the research your self. The leading cause for Derek becoming a white supremacist was the fact that he was raised that way. His father was racist, and he instilled his beliefs in Derek and the rest of his family.

This is an important foundation for the way he acted throughout the movie. When Derek's father was killed in a black neighborhood fighting a fire, the words he had for the reporters were his father's words. When Derek and "friends" attacked the grocery store, where two of his "friends" had lost their jobs, his father's words flowed again. Derek learned to be a white supremacist from his father. With the loss of his father, Danny turned to Derek as the father figure. Danny thought his brother was a hero.

As the story goes he followed in Derek's footsteps; the only difference was that Danny was still thinking. This is evident in the fact that he questioned the white supremacy cause. Are all black people bad? Is Sweeney a bad guy? Danny wasn't blinded by anger and this proves that racism can be unlearned. In jail Derek learns a lot about his life and the world around him.

While he joins with people of the same beliefs, he finds that they aren't that different. When he saw a member of the gang buy drugs from a Hispanic man and sell it to white guy, it goes against his beliefs. He used to preach that blacks kill their own kind, and a member of his own gang was doing the same thing. The other thing that happens he made a new acquaintance, a black man, he learned that people are just people no matter the color. This is reinforced when his gang attacked him and the blacks left him alone. He learned that he was a nigger in prison.

The major change in Derek came when Sweeney visited him in jail, after the rape. Derek had hit rock bottom, and realized everything that he stood for was wrong. He realized that his behavior, ideas, and "friends" destroyed his real family. His mother and sister learned to hate him. And he turned his brother into copy of himself.

Derek had to mend these ties and make a new life. He became more supportive of his sisters school, wanted to get his mother back into a real home, and wanted to change his brother's way of thinking. He needed to break ties with friends who had ideas that no longer agreed with his. As we find out this was much easier said than done.

The unique thing about this movie was the use of black and white film in certain scenes. These scenes depicted the struggle and rage of black and white in conflict. All of the scenes showed Derek in flashbacks performing the acts that made up his life. He had done all these things and his life hadn't gotten any better. This is one of my favorite movies, but after writing this paper I learned more about this movie. This movie showed me that the legal system is also not black or white; it is the gray in which law is interesting.

In hopes of making the legal system work, this movie showed that some people could change while in prison. This is important to me that my money isn't wasted on locking people up. The other fact in this movie shows that hate crime legislation is not the answer. If the object of prison is to reform, then adding more time to the sentence is not the answer. Derek, under normal sentencing, reformed with a normal sentence. To wrap this up, I give American History X two thumbs up.