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Skinheads in my living room

 

White supremacy is one of those scary nightmares I've kept in a box about the size of my television set, along with gang warfare and abject poverty. They exist, but I don't have to fear them.

Then my son comes home from college with a movie he wants me to see about some neo-Nazi kids. No, my son's not one of them, but his best friend highly recommended the film. So, we watch "American History X," with all its brutality, bigotry, and foul language putrefying our living room. I hardly breathe for two hours, but I can't turn it off.

The movie tells the story of a working-class white family in LA after the father is killed by a black man. The eldest son, Derek, turns his grief to hatred against all blacks, whom he says have been free for 130 years and still can't make it without government handouts. Then he rants about brown "boarder jumpers" who fill up schools and jobs when they shouldn't even be here, and all non-whites who have gotten work they don't deserve because of affirmative action. Pushed by a mind-warping white supremacist mentor, Derek becomes the leader of a group of young skinheads. When he brutally kills two black kids who rob his car, he is sent to prison.

There, we watch Derek gradually lose respect for skinheads, and gain respect for a black man who shows him that color doesn't make a person good or bad, and that one can have power without violence. Derek leaves prison converted, and promptly pulls his younger brother from the racist cult. But, it's not easy to undo so much damage done, by so much hatred spilled.

Of course, the movie actors and the audience can walk away from the problem afterwards, and all that's left is the message: skin color does not make the man (or woman). But, the movie's racist rhetoric comes through with far more clarity and impact than the message of tolerance and equality. And I'm afraid that's often what happens.

We learn rather offhandedly that Derek got only three years for killing two people, while his black friend got six years for stealing a television and accidentally dropping it on a policeman's foot. And left out of the picture is the knowledge that illegal immigrants are typically allotted the lowest paid menial labor that no one else wants. Or that employers tend to hire within their own race, so without affirmative action people of color couldn't have proven their ability to succeed at higher levels.

I won't give away the ending, but one reviewer who praised the film wrote, "See this movie and pray we are advancing as a society."

Are we? It's been a few years since Rodney King and OJ Simpson, but only months since James Byrd was dragged to death by KKK zealots. There are too many examples. I scanned the Internet to check on the white supremacy movement and came across websites such as the White Pride Network and the Skinhead Resource Centre. I visited a few sites and found the opening remarks polite, rational, and disturbing. Further entries were downright scary: Adolf Hitler Tribute Pages, KKKomedy Central, and A.R.A. Anti-Racist Assholes.

Clearly, the white supremacy movement is alive and still twisting the minds of white folks, only. Young misfits are vulnerable, and particularly those angry about something connected to race&emdash;like losing to a non-white, or suffering some other slight.

After the movie, I asked my son what he thought about the skinheads. "They sounded very smart," he began, "but they only considered one side of the issue." I waited for him to go on. Finally, he said, "In prison, Derek found out that things aren't the way he thought. The black guy taught him that people are pretty much the same no matter what color they are."

I'm happy my son got that message, but I wonder about viewers who may already have negative feelings about race. If you decide to watch this video with your teenager, be prepared for brutal realities that emphatically bring forward serious issues. When it's over, ask what your son or daughter thinks about Derek and other characters, and listen for the influences that have developed your child's views on race, violence, and power. You may be surprised.

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