No matter what color we are on the outside, we are all subject to racism, prejudice, and feeling like an outcast. Whether we were brought up to be racial and discriminative, or loving and respectful to all, society’s unspoken rule silently states not everyone will ever be treated equal.
“Remember the Titans” was about a community of black and white people forced to come together because the school board elected to make them the first to mix black and white students. The movie took the viewers through rioting, segregated communities, a new football head coach of color, football players becoming a team against their will, a school system forced to integrate black and white students who have to get along and respect one another, and what the rewards were for doing such.
The movie reminds me that while I don’t live a racist life, and “other” people, there are many that do. The character Ray in this movie is a good example of someone that is born and raised to be prejudice, and never wants to change. At first he and Gary had the same feelings towards the black kids, they didn’t want to have any of them play defense, didn’t want to have to room with any of them, and didn’t want to get to know them when Coach Boone assigned them to. As the team goes through their challenges of becoming a team and working together, Ray cannot bring himself to do that.
Unfortunately we see these actions by our own teenagers when we walk in a school. Within the first five minutes of entering the front doors you can hear kids calling each other names and ganging up on the unpopular kid. As when Emma initially meets Julius and doesn’t want to shake his hand, that same thing happens when the new kid moves to town from another city. It doesn’t necessarily matter the color, he is looked at by how he dresses, and immediately “named” into a group. These kids can continue to go to school and still be an outsider the day they graduate; kids don’t always have the ability to see inside someone and realize they are a person who wants to fit in, just like the rest of them. Everyone wants to have friends and feel included.
The movie also reminds me that while I’m not racist it is going on all around me on a daily basis. The movie made me realize what “othering” really was, and I found new ways of hearing what people are saying and what they truly mean when they say it. When the Boone family is moving into their new neighborhood the neighbors are looking through their windows, none of them come to the street to greet the new family or introduce themselves. They make statements such as, “Are they the movers?”, “It only takes one to be overrun by them”, and “Here comes more of them”.
It is hard for me to see this and understand why this type of treatment continues to go on in this country. I am so quick to welcome someone, regardless of who they are. I teach my Son the same thing, as I don’t want him to be included in a group at school who is saying anything like this about the new kid in town. I know we see acts of outrage and violence between cultures on the news and TV shows, but the movie allowed me to bring it closer to home. It made me think more about what is going on in my community. I live in Granite Falls, where there are a lot of people that are called “Red Necks”, and made fun of because they wear Carhart clothing, Romeo’s for shoes, and drive beat up pick-up trucks. It is unfortunate that people in my community are not reminded that is the person inside that makes up who they are, not the clothing style they choose to wear, or the type of automobile they drive.
Whether we are rich or poor, black or white, man or woman, we are all made up of feelings inside. It cannot be fun to be treated like an outcast, when naturally all we want is to belong to something. If society could take the appearance of everyone and set it aside, and look inside to whom the person really is, this world would be a better place.
“Remember the Titans” was about a community of black and white people forced to come together because the school board elected to make them the first to mix black and white students. The movie took the viewers through rioting, segregated communities, a new football head coach of color, football players becoming a team against their will, a school system forced to integrate black and white students who have to get along and respect one another, and what the rewards were for doing such.
The movie reminds me that while I don’t live a racist life, and “other” people, there are many that do. The character Ray in this movie is a good example of someone that is born and raised to be prejudice, and never wants to change. At first he and Gary had the same feelings towards the black kids, they didn’t want to have any of them play defense, didn’t want to have to room with any of them, and didn’t want to get to know them when Coach Boone assigned them to. As the team goes through their challenges of becoming a team and working together, Ray cannot bring himself to do that.
Unfortunately we see these actions by our own teenagers when we walk in a school. Within the first five minutes of entering the front doors you can hear kids calling each other names and ganging up on the unpopular kid. As when Emma initially meets Julius and doesn’t want to shake his hand, that same thing happens when the new kid moves to town from another city. It doesn’t necessarily matter the color, he is looked at by how he dresses, and immediately “named” into a group. These kids can continue to go to school and still be an outsider the day they graduate; kids don’t always have the ability to see inside someone and realize they are a person who wants to fit in, just like the rest of them. Everyone wants to have friends and feel included.
The movie also reminds me that while I’m not racist it is going on all around me on a daily basis. The movie made me realize what “othering” really was, and I found new ways of hearing what people are saying and what they truly mean when they say it. When the Boone family is moving into their new neighborhood the neighbors are looking through their windows, none of them come to the street to greet the new family or introduce themselves. They make statements such as, “Are they the movers?”, “It only takes one to be overrun by them”, and “Here comes more of them”.
It is hard for me to see this and understand why this type of treatment continues to go on in this country. I am so quick to welcome someone, regardless of who they are. I teach my Son the same thing, as I don’t want him to be included in a group at school who is saying anything like this about the new kid in town. I know we see acts of outrage and violence between cultures on the news and TV shows, but the movie allowed me to bring it closer to home. It made me think more about what is going on in my community. I live in Granite Falls, where there are a lot of people that are called “Red Necks”, and made fun of because they wear Carhart clothing, Romeo’s for shoes, and drive beat up pick-up trucks. It is unfortunate that people in my community are not reminded that is the person inside that makes up who they are, not the clothing style they choose to wear, or the type of automobile they drive.
Whether we are rich or poor, black or white, man or woman, we are all made up of feelings inside. It cannot be fun to be treated like an outcast, when naturally all we want is to belong to something. If society could take the appearance of everyone and set it aside, and look inside to whom the person really is, this world would be a better place.
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