Principal's Office To The Time Danny example essay topic

American History X begins in black and white with two black men trying to steal a truck and a white male with a swastika on his chest it running to the door with a gun in hand, ready to shoot. When the door opens he shoots the one standing guard and the one who broke the window of the car; soon the police come and with a smirk the white male is apprehended by the police and is incarcerated for three years on two count of involuntary manslaughter, he would have gotten life but the brother of the killer did not testify. Then there is a cut to a boy in color in his principal's office where he is being confronted for writing a civil rights paper on Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler. The principal Dr. Sweeny, a black man who tries to help the boy from becoming like his brother, a skin head. Derek Vinyard is the man who shot the two black men who were trying to steal his truck. He is extremely well known and well respected amongst the other skin heads in the California area.

His head is shaved but he has a goatee, he is dressed with swastikas on his clothes, and he has a large tattoo of a swastika on the right side of his chest; there is also one of an eagle with "White Power" underneath, and others that have something to do with white supremacy. He could persuade any lost teenager, young adult, or adult for that matter to listen to him and join them, but Cameron Alexander was the actual headman, he only used Derek to get them into the D.O.C. (Disciples of Christ). During the movie there are cuts between the past and present, the past shots are made in black and white, while the present shots were taken in color. The entire movie takes place in one day, from the time when Danny enters the principal's office, to the time Danny enters the bathroom the next morning.

Derek has just been released from his three years in prison and he is not the same person as was when he went in, he has hair on his head, is ashamed of his large tattoo, and does not have the same bad attitude that he had before. Danny has to write another paper about his brother Derek by the next day and when Danny comes home he puts off his paper and goes to a party that Derek told him not to go to because something bad was going to happen. At the party Derek tells Cameron that he is out he punches and kicks Cameron and then runs out of the place, Danny finds him and pushes him until Derek calms him down enough to tell him why he is doing this. Derek tells him what happened in jail during those three long years, and Danny realizes that all of the hate is not worth it. Both of them go home and Danny finishes his paper at 5: 45 in the morning and later on the brothers walk together to Danny's school to drop him off. It was not more than ten or fifteen minutes later, that Danny walks into the bathroom and when he turns around he is shot twice in the chest by a black kid who had a confrontation with him yesterday.

The movie ends with Danny's paper being read, "Hate is baggage. Life is too short to be pissed all the time... it's just not worth it". American History X is a very well produced and directed movie I would rate this movie a 9 out of 10. This movie is the epitome of discrimination; it deals with the skinheads or neo-Nazis. They do not like or want to like anybody who is not white and protestant. These Neo-Nazis did not like: Spanish, Asian, Black, immigrants, Jewish, Catholic, Muslim, any other type of religion, anyone on welfare, interracial marriages, and most of all for any of these to have a higher place in society than them.

Racism runs in the males for the Vinyard family, Dennis Vinyard the father of Derek and Danny, was racist. He did not like the idea of Derek learning from a black man even if he had a P.H.D. and was well qualified to teach to the impressionable minds of young people. During one of the flashbacks Derek is giving a speech to some of the younger members of the gang to inspire them into destroying a convenience store that has been taken over by Koreans and employed by illegal immigrants. Entering the store they loot the store, terrorize the owner, and to harass the employees.

To one of the employees, a Spanish woman, they pour things on her face, call her names, make fun of her, and tell her she is worthless. Derek also talks about the beatings of Rodney King, and he totally supports Powell and the other officers that were involved, he had this conversation with a liberal Jewish man that was dating his mother. The death of Danny was the result of him sticking up for himself while one of the black kids beat up on another white boy. The black kid did not like that so the had it in for Danny and shooting him twice was how he thought he would get even. This movie was made in 1998 that is only 5 years a lot can happen in five years, there could be the start and end of a war, there could be an economic depression and then the recovery, but then there could be no change the times proceed with nothing changing for the better or worse. During a period of three years a man changes his point of view from being a neo-Nazi to tolerating what he used to hate.

During this time in history people were getting along, there were no big riots or race related issues for the whole country to deal with. Racist battles were more localized in one area of the country and not widespread. On the west coast, in California where the movie takes place, there is more trouble with gangs in the inner cities. Although there will always be a select few who will not rest, that will cause a stir, and get other people all riled up about a cause or belief that excludes one group of people. The movie also shows how impressionable the young minds of children are and will always be for that matter.

In this world we live in no matter how long, there will always be one problem that will ripple into bigger and bigger problems, just like dropping a rock into a still pond. This is the last line in the movie and it fits well with the theme, "We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic cords of memory will swell when again touched as surely they will be by the better angels of our nature". - Abraham Lincoln.