Why You Should Re-Watch ‘American History X’ Right Now
Last week, I was pushed to reconsider everything I know about race relations and discrimination. Do I really understand the dynamics well? What do I really value? Am I doing enough to make things right?
I decided to re-watch American History X, and I’m glad I did.
“There are over two million illegal immigrants bedding down in this state tonight! This state spent $3bn last year on services for those people who have no right to be here in the first place. Three billion dollars!… Our border policy’s a joke! So is anybody surprised that south of the border, they’re laughing at us? Laughing at our laws?”
Does this sound like someone in the high office right now who spends a lot of time on Twitter? Well, let me introduce you to Derek Vinyard (played magnificently by Edward Norton), the main character in American History X — a violent white supremacist, neo-nazi gang leader.
He brings out more truth than we probably can handle in two hours.
Hating is easy. It just is. A part of the reason why there is so much of it around. Life is difficult and hatred helps us deal with it. How easy it is to bring a bunch of people together based on mutual hatred, make them do horrible things, and take pride in it without flinching once! Derek does.
Whereas changing your mind is ridiculously difficult. And often you cannot do it alone. They say it takes a village to raise a child. Maybe, but it certainly takes one to change a mind. It also takes a tragedy, humiliation, a free-fall of identity, and immense suffering. Derek goes through it all.
Oh, and you can be an intelligent bigot. You hate not because you don’t know better but because you want to. You have your iron-clad reasons. Your hate is deliberate, strategic, and logical. It is backed by your capacity for intelligent debate and sadism in equal measures. Derek is an intelligent bigot.
Yet, there seems to be hope. We humans have an extraordinary ability to transform, especially in the face of tragedy and compassion. Tragedy forces us to reconsider our values, compassion opens us up to new ones. Derek transforms.
“Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.” — Abraham Lincoln
Watch the movie right now. You are bound to learn, enjoy, question, and dare I say it, take a baby step towards transformation. I know I did. Just as the movie reminds us in the words of Abraham Lincoln.
