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American History X Essay

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American History X

Will racism ever come to an end or will its path go on infinitely? For the most part, the majority of people respect those who are different either in color, race, and/or heritage; however, there are those few that hold bigoted views towards people who are different than they are. The movie American History X by Tony Kaye displays an example of people who hold bigoted views. Derek, a Neo-Nazi leader, must contend with his actions relating to his past racist views and actions. This powerful movie explores its characters thoroughly and gives reasons why people become so callous and turn towards a racist group. It also exposes insight to problems that plague America when it comes to racism in …show more content…

Derek realized that hatred towards people did not help him, his family, or the situation at hand. Instead of being negative and destructive, why not be positive. Hurting people and destroying property does not solve problems, but only makes them worse by causing more resentment and tension between people (Theriou). Nothing good has ever come out of a situation where one person has been the victim of a crime or abuse. Good things come out of situations where people show hospitality, good will, and compassion; not hatred.
It is made very clear that Derek and Danny have no affiliations with the Ku Klux Klan. Derek calls the KKK a bunch of disorganized rednecks that very inanely run around with sheets on their heads. Instead they are part of a Neo-Nazi group in Southern California. In America today there are “estimated to be about 200,000 members
602 3 associated with white power groups (included in these estimates are supporters and hard core members plus their families)” (Suall). That is a lot of people who are affiliated with known racist groups. When looking on the Internet a person can realize how much hate is present in our world. John Hron website has estimates of Neo-Nazis in countries and a little bit about how that country views Nazism. America has about 85,000 Neo-Nazi members compared with 47,000 German Neo-Nazis. Germany though has a lot

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