A Citizen's Right To be Equal (american History X)

A detailed Summary of A Citizen's Right To be Equal (american History X)

America is known to many as a free country. It was founded on the belief that all citizens would have the opportunity to thrive. This notion has not always been true. In the early years of our country, racism was a large setback. Slavery ruined the idea of a free country, the idea that was supposed to be the most important of all. Over the years slavery was abolished and racism has been largely eliminated. There is, however, some racism still present in that only holds our country back. These racist people cannot be called citizens because of their actions. The definition of a citizen is "A person owing loyalty to and entitled by birth or naturalization to the protection of a state or nation" (American Heritage Dictionary). Part of being loyal and protecting the state is to obey the rules and ideals that the state has set. One of those ideals is to work with our peers toward something that would better society, no matter what race or religion they may be. We can see examples of this in the movie American History X.

The movie begins with a gang of black guys trying to rob a car from one of the main characters, Derek. Derek, a racist, kills two of the three gang members, one of them very brutally

When Derek is released from prison it is apparent that he has changed. One poignant moment occurs when he looks at himself in the mirror and sees the Nazi tattoo on his chest and you can just see the utter disgust in his face. You can tell here how bad he feels about his past and the things he has done throughout his life. When he tries to explain this to his girlfriend, Stacy, she says, "You think what you did was wrong? Those niggers got exactly what they deserved". All his old friends and Danny still view him as their leader. When Derek tells them that he has changed they turn on him in a blink of an eye. They call him a "piece of shit, race trading nigger". Then his old best friend pulls a gun on him and Stacy is telling him to shoot Derek. This shows what kind of friends they really were. It is clear that racism has taken control of these people and their citizenship has been hindered because of this. A true citizen would not pull a gun on another member of society, especially one of their friends, because of that person's beliefs.

Danny becomes very upset with his brother saying, "I hate you, who do you think you are." Derek then explains to Danny why he has changed. He tells him all about his time in prison and how the black prisoners all wanted to beat him up because they knew who he was and how even the other "skin-heads" in the prison turned on him. He tells him about how he had to work along side a black man, who he became very good friends with. He states that the only reason that he made it out of prison in one piece was because of that friend. He tells Danny that what he formally believed and did, "it's wrong, it's wrong and it was eating me up, it was going to kill me. And I kept asking myself 'how did I buy into this shit'." Here he is showing how bad he really feels about what he did. He says unremorsefully, "Nothing I could ever do could take that feeling away. I killed two guys, I killed them, and it didn't make me feel any different. It just got me more lost and I'm tired of feeling pissed off, I'm just tired of it." This talk with Derek gets Danny to reconsider his ways and allows him to see around his racist views through to his conscious. His conscious and the great respect he has for Derek cause him to change. When they get home, they tear down all the Nazi, white power and other racist propaganda from his room. This symbolizes that Danny has truly changed for the better.

American History X shows many examples of the ways in which racism can be hurtful to a society. In order to be considered a citizen you must work with the society and be a productive member of the society, in order to make it better. Racism, in all forms, clearly goes again

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Approximate Word count = 1814
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Movies