Throughout the film The Murder of Stephen Lawrence, directed by Paul Greengrass, there are many events that occur that lead to the death of Stephen Lawrence and the failure to apprehend his killers. A prominent force that influences those outcomes is racism on both personal and institutional levels. The first and most obvious example of racism in the film is the attack and murder of Stephen Lawrence by a gang of white racists. The main focus of the film is the investigation into why the attack took place, the people involved in the attack, and their level of involvement. This is an example of personal racism on the part of the white gang members. The next racist act in the film is after the attack when Stephen in unconscious and the first responders arrive. The fact that the responders are police and not paramedics, when it was paramedics that were needed was institutional racism. It was not …show more content…
This would be an example of institutional racism because it was no one person’s decision to stop resuscitation, rather they all collectively agreed to call time of death. An example of personal racism is the constable’s detective’s questions towards the Lawrence family after the murder of their son. They were trying to find out if Stephen was in a gang purely because of his race. The time would have been better spent following leads on who killed Stephen. This would be a reflection of the constable’s and investigating detective’s racism. Two weeks after the murder, the first arrest was first made. The reason why no arrests were made up until this point is because of the racism of everyone involved in the investigation of the murder. Because of their reluctance to arrest lead suspects caused critical evidence to be lost so that the killers could be properly and swiftly prosecuted. Because it was racism of everyone involved, this event fall under the institutional
The Film A Time to Kill directed by Joel Schumacher, produced in 1996 is an American crime drama film and contains many examples of dominant attitudes in society. The film is focused around the dominant attitudes of racism in society which is primarily evident in the favouritism of whites in the perspective of law. The film features how a black man feared this discrimination so greatly he took the law into his own hands by punishing two white men the way two black men would be punished. Throughout the text we see the conflict between two opposing lawyers in court and how racism is an evident issue. This essay will discuss the dominant attitudes in society around the topic of racism and how they are represented and revealed by conflict between
The murder of Stephen Lawrence, a black British teenager, in a racist attack in 1993, resulted in a detailed inquiry published in 1999 outlining the existence of institutional racism and as many as 70 recommended changes in policies regarding how police should communicate with ethnic minority
A scene in the movie that best depicted the racism and the violence was the scene outside the Little’s family house, a black family. In this scene the black legion starts to pass around gasoline cans and then flames roar through the room and the Little kids are hysterical. Louise, the wife, rushes in and pushes them past the fire, she has infant in hand covered in a blanket. They barely make it outside when they are confronted by a black legion member who threatens them and tells them to leave the community.
The racism against Italian-Americans was shown by African-Americans and Caucasian individuals. A particular scene in the film that stood about was the racist rants. The characters alternate between Italian-Americans, African- Americans, and Caucasians who make fun of each other with name calling and racial slurs/ insults. This scene was very profound because of all the slurs being called to the different races.It was disturbing to hear because it showed poor communication that these races gave each other through stereotyping.
What would a world without judgment be like? A place where you could be yourself and not be ashamed of it just because others don’t like it. Racism falls in that category of judgment, racial discrimination has been around for over decades. In the film “Do The Right Thing”, directed by Spike Lee; proves that racism still exists today. The setting takes place in on a hot day in a Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn New York, starting off with a militant funk and grind that immediately plugs you into the movie's headset.
Racism is defined as a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race. Meaning that a race is superior to another because of how they look. In the highly entertaining American drama film, ‘Dear White People’ was written and directed by Justin Simien, and released in the year 2014. The main focus of the film is African-American students and their perspectives under the light of escalating racial issues in prestigious colleges in the United States. The movies show how racism is a system based on advantages.
Racism involves both prejudice and discrimination founded in social opinions of hereditary differences between individuals. Crash has many examples of racial stereotyping and prejudice. For example, one of the many times racism was portrayed during the movie was in the scene between Graham, a black officer and his Hispanic police partner, Rita. The two seem to have a relationship outside of work in addition to being partners at work. At one point they are in bed together and the phone rings. Graham answers it and tells his mom that he call her back later because he is preoccupied with a white woman. Rita, of course, gets mad at this because she is not Caucasian, she is Puerto Rican. Graham assures her the only reason he said he was with a white woman was because it would make is mom more irritated than if he would have said he was with a Hispanic woman. Graham first disrespects the validity of Rita’s identity, assumes that Hispanics are above Caucasians, and then actually appears to be uniformed of her origins at all. This is just one of many prime examples throughout the film. Although this example is much less violent and rude than other scenes throughout the film, nevertheless, it is as offensive as the other
The film examines systemic and institutional racism in the police station when Hansen talks to his superior officer about switching partners; his superior, Lieutenant Dixon, is a black officer and says that reporting Officer Tom Hansen as a racist could cost all of them their jobs, especially in the LAPD. Dixon suggests transferring to a one-man car and mockingly suggests Hansen explain his request by claiming to have “uncontrollable flatulence” rather than say his partner is racist. We also see instances of where racism is not race against race, it also portrays race against gender and race against class as two major forms of racism conflict in the movie.
The majority of the racism involved in the movie is towards the negro population. They are perceived as thugs, thieves and
Racism: Because Tom was black, he was made the target for the criminal in a crime he did not commit. The children as well as the people in the town find the implications of racism on a person.
There are two main issues in the movie the “The Color of Fear” that I will discuss. These two issues include grouping people of color on the basis of the way one looks, and the attitudes of different races towards one another. Including also the idea that the white “do-gooder” feels that subconsciously racism is being taken care of, when in all reality it isn’t. The eight men in The Color of Fear candidly discussed racism not
“Many years later, little had changed. A black man named Rodney King was involved in a high-speed chase in Los Angeles. California, on March 3, 1991. Police pulled him from the car and beat him. A bystander took video footage of the beating. The four police officers involved were indicted, but they were acquitted in 1992.” ( "Police Brutality and Race.")The quote from the article “police brutality and race” shows a situation that happened in 1991 that is similar to the incident in the book. A lot of times when incidents like police brutality the police officers often win because they are “doing their jobs” when in reality they are often accusing many citizens. Often cases of police brutality the civilian that is abused is male and black. This is because they are stereotyping thinking they are up to no good when they can be innocent by standers. Racism and stereotyping in most cases end badly. Police officers abuse their powers and hurt and or injure people because they “assume” which often leads to a bad ending. “FBI statistics show that white officers killed black suspects twice a week in the United States over a seven-year period. That’s an average of 96 times a year.” (police officers abuse their power).studies show that WHITE police officers are the ones to kill BLACK suspects due to “assumption”. Their is a very high statistic that shows how many blacks are killed in a
Have you ever encountered a racist person? Well in the book "The Hate U Give” is about racial profiling and shows police brutality, which has been happening recently. The author of the book, Angie Thomas, shows occasions in her book that relate to real life events. In her book, the main character, Starr, deals with the loss of her 2 friends, one of whom dies due to police brutality. This essay will show how literary elements such as dialogue, conflict, and symbolism are used to explore the theme of racism.
Pop culture has enlightened and exposed the world to the good, the bad, and the ugly under every circumstance, and people tend to be more provoked, influenced, and intrigued by the bad and the ugly rather than the good. One topic of pop culture that never fails to gain attention is violence in its many forms. While at a state of constant social change and adaptation, the population finds more and more disagreements on the ever-changing and conflicting views and beliefs of each individual, which can lead to violence in some, if not most cases. Hate crimes are crimes or actions motivated by certain disagreements among groups that typically involve some form of violence. This essay will discuss the violence in racial hate crimes against African Americans, because the violence in these hate crimes, both past and present, will help educate individuals about different racial perspectives on the claimed “unfair” or “unequal” treatment of the African American race compared to the treatment of whites in all aspects of society and life. In the United States, African Americans as a race haven been one of the main targets for violent racial and hate crimes. Racial violence and hate crimes against African Americans have been a part of the United States since the very beginning, with a spike in conflict around the 1960s era of the African American Civil Rights Movement, and are even portrayed now in current pop culture sources. Violence against African Americans in films like The Help (a
An example of racism occurred at the beginning of the film when the Arab looking father and daughter attempted to buy a gun. The clerk at the gun shop made a few blatantly racist comments about the customers because he assumes they are Middle Eastern. There were several references to the September 11 attacks. It didn’t matter that the two were Persian, not Arab. Unfortunately, the reoccurring theme post 9/11 is that all Middle Eastern people became potential terrorists. It is amazing that people have the ability to interpret bad events and cast their own prejudices on different ethnic groups to mask their own feelings of anger and frustration.