Not long ago when I was in primary school, there was a young Asian boy sitting by himself. He was not annoying or causing harm to anyone, although surrounding him were a crowd of white boys who were stretching the sides of their face to make their eyes thinner as well as making sounds such as “ching chong” in which they were offensively imitating the Asian boy’s language. On the other side of the playground, I saw a young white girl and an Indian girl playing happily together, because they were taught to judge others based on their personality and kindness and not their race. This indicates that stereotypes and racism such as this are learned (most likely from parents or people with large influence) and are not intuitive.
In the world we live in today, everyone is human, so why is there racism in 2020? Racism occurs all around the globe. It is when someone discriminates against others due to their skin color, religious belief, or nationality. Racism has a substantial impact on today’s society and is well demonstrated in the iconic film ‘Remember the Titans’ which was based on a true story. This film was set in 1971 which was a period of time where racial integration was just beginning, and the tension between whites and blacks was high. In ‘Remember the Titans’ both football teams (blacks and whites) were unpleased when they were informed that they were to be conjoined into one team. They were adamant that they would never manage to cooperate with each other due to the fact that their skin color was contrasted and racial controversy was extremely common.
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Although racism can be intended for anyone, ‘Remember the Titans’ is aimed towards the hostility between blacks and whites. At the beginning of the film, the two team captains, Gerry Bertier and Julius Campbell highly disliked each other, although they were forced to learn to cooperate and respect each other in order to fulfill both their desires’ of winning the championship. The young men learned to “trust the soul of a man rather than the look of him'. This was a powerful and inspirational message stated by Coach Yoast which changed the way the men perceived each other. This movie sends inspiration to the viewers and expresses today’s society. For example, the protests going on around the world support ‘Black Lives Matter’ because a man of black color was murdered on the street by an authority in the USA. If it was to be a white man in the same position, he would most likely still be alive today. This indicates that racism has not changed much since 1971, when ‘Remember the Titans’ was based.
Not only did the two teams of young men have controversy, but the young daughters of each of the coaches were also not content with each other. At the beginning of the film, young Sheryl Yoast and Nikki Boone disliked each other. “Are all white girls that crazy?” The two girls were influenced to believe that they are unalike due to their skin color. As Nikki asks her mum if all white girls are crazy, it indicates to the viewers that the girls were raised to despise the opposite race and not befriend them based on their decency. This is purely not the young girls’ fault, as they are young and gullible, but society and their parents have a large impact on their thoughts and beliefs, which is much like society today.
Certain stereotypes such as all Asians have Coronavirus or all Muslims are terrorists are racist, conventional thoughts passed through generations. These are some common assumptions that are said all around the world. They are deceiving and only said because of past incidents which have occurred to a minority of these cultures and religions.
Racism has been around for thousands of years, but in this day and age, I believe that everyone should learn to come together and understand each other, no matter their belief, culture, religion, or skin color. ‘Remember the Titans’ displays a good image of what racism was like in the 1970s and how people felt to be discriminated against although it is much like the present society. Like Martin Luther King Jr said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character”.
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