Clare Cloyd
In response to idea number 2, I think that this movie, as well as society in general has a hard time grasping racism. The idea that only people who commit hate crimes are the stereotypical racist groups is completely fallacious. While I believe it is true that these types of groups may be more racist than some, even as much as an internal thought about hatred towards a person of another race, to me, would be considered racist. While I don't know exactly how to classify a "hate crime," I don't think burning crosses or walking around flaunting swastikas are the only things included. I think as far as the claim that younger people who watch movies like American History X will get the idea that that only type of racism is organized group racism is fairly true. They may get the idea that if they do not belong to an "actual" supremacy group that they are automatically not a racist. If they take on this mindset, they could think that they are exempt from being a racist because they do not belong to a group. They need to know that it does not take something as extreme as burning a cross to be considered a racist who is capable of committing a hate crime. Something as simple as harsh words can be considered a hate crime because not just physical acts do harm. Racism will always be a problem because many humans live by tradition. Since that is the case, there will probably always be people who are racist because it is a family norm. Cracking down on organized racism is just a small dent in a very large problem.