American History X - Chris Hansen
I do believe that this film is misleading about what people in society can be considered racists. The film was much to adamant about placing every racist character in the movie in a gang of some sort. The only exception I observed was Derek's father, but his appearance was short and near the end of the movie, long after the gang stereotype for racism had been established. This practice is dangerous, as it gives misleading ideas about how to prevent and eliminate the racist problems found in America. The problem is not the gangs and individual people that commit racist acts, but the general stereotypes and prejudices that have invaded our entire country. The war on drugs has suffered similar setbacks. Too much time is spent focusing on individuals, low level people who are sent to jail but change nothing in respect to the status of our country (in terms of drug usage and distribution, for the purpose of this example, but the same idea applies to the racists who are put in jail). In order to change something that has saturated people's minds as thoroughly as these subtle racist nuances, there needs to be more changes at the top. Eliminating gangs changes nothing. Even eliminating the usage of certain, racially charged words changes nothing. The only way things change are to overhaul an entire society, to think and act differently, and to forget about the past. This will never happen, as personal experiences speak louder than any government words or mandates, so people will continue learning from older generations, who grew up with the (usually) subtle racism we see today.