Racism and Enlightenment in American History X By Lea Weller BA

           Tony Kaye’s American History X (1998) explores racism in contemporary American Society showing social pressures surrounding neo-Nazi groups. It “probes the mind-set of the white supremacy movement” (Fulwood, 2008, page 120), controlling the youth of Venice Beach in California, brainwashing youths to believe ethnic minorities are to blame for poverty and crime. This social film represents a dystopian setting and is set not long after the Rodney King Riots.  Levy states that American History X “provides an instructive example of the simplistic approach taken by movies in the all-too-rare cases when they tackle social issues, here racism” (Levy, 1999, page 313). Racism is evident throughout America and represents a social problem even today. American History X can be seen as a “significant landmark in the representation of race relations in American film history” (Chanter, 2008, page 24-25). A neo-Nazi ideology is evident throughout the film and we see how the ‘white supremacists’ namely Derek and Cammeron form ‘Aryan soldiers’ and how Derek’s enlightened incarceration allows him to reform his views.

Kaye encourages the audience to sympathise with charismatic Derek whilst he preaches racist propaganda, yet we are to dismiss this and agree with the new reformed views that he implores later in the film. The change in Derek’s view is “due to the disillusionment and violence he suffers at the hands of his neo-Nazi prison friends” (Chanter, 2008, page 123). Derek is brutally attacked by the neo-Nazi’s after he disagrees with the gangs liaising with the minorities, or as the case was inside, the majorities. Palumbo states how the black laundry worker Lamont explains to Derek, “In here, you the nigga. Not me” (Palumbo, 2010, ONLINE). He believed he had the protection of the neo-Nazi group from blacks, but this illusion was soon shattered after the violation and humiliation he suffered due to a minor disagreement. After the vicious rape, whilst hospitalised, Sweeney, Derek’s old English teacher and current school principle, visits him to voice his concerns about his brother’s racist behaviour, for example writing a history paper on Mein Kampf. 

He comes out with the assertion of Hitler being a Civil rights icon. Something which prompts Dr. Sweeney to give him a history lesson in what’s actually happening, or what he calls as “American History X”.

(Ratnakar, 2009)

Danny is also brainwashed by Cammeron and protected due to Cammeron seeing Derek as a Hero for his racist act. Derek vows to change Danny’s thinking; Sweeney agrees to give him a good reference for his parole board. After befriending Lamont, Derek starts to realise that the minority are just like the majority, talking about everyday things; Derek and Lamont discuss women and sex and how much they miss it. Derek is then allied with the Black majority of the prison inmates as he has an ally in Lamont and they earn each other’s trust and respect. So Derek is now protected by the ones who he longed to hate, switching his views and no longer considering the outside minority as a cause for concern.

 

American History X shows ‘whiteness’ as normal, giving us not only visual references to the white racist violence but also shows us the logical explanations behind these extreme views. The film shows the racist logic from the view point of the neo-Nazi’s and subtly challenges the audience to give the group a valid argument against their views. Derek’s speech shows their views:

Alright listen up! We need to open our eyes. There are over two millions illegal immigrants bedding down in the state tonight. The state spent three billions dollars last year on services for those people who had no right to be here in the first place. Three billion dollars. 400 million dollars just to lock up a bunch of illegal immigrant criminals who only got in this country because the fucking INS decided it's not worth the effort to screen for convicted felons. Who gives a shit? Our government doesn't give a shit. Our border policy is a joke! So is anybody surprised that south of the border are laughing at us, laughing at our laws. 

Every night thousands of these parasites stream across the border like some fucking piñata exploded. Don't laugh! They're nothing funny going on here this is about your life and mine. It's about decent hard-working Americans falling through the cracks and getting the shaft because their government cares more about the constitutional rights of a bunch of people who aren't even citizens in this country. On the Statue of Liberty it says: "Give me you’re tired, you’re hungry, you’re poor. “Well, it's Americans who are tired and hungry and poor. And I say, until you take care of that, close the fucking book. 'Cause we're losing. We're losing our rights to pursue our destiny. We're losing our freedom. So that a bunch of fucking foreigners, can come in here and exploit our country. 

 

And this isn't something that's going on far away. This isn't something that's happening places we can't do anything about it. It's happening right here, right in our neighbourhood, right in that building behind you. Archie Miller ran that grocery store since we were kids here. Dave worked there, Mike worked there. He went under and now some fucking Korean owns it who fired these guys and he's making a killing 'cause he's hired forty fucking border-jumpers. I see this shit going on and I don't see anybody doing anything about it. And it fucking pisses me off. So look around you. This isn't our fucking neighbourhood, it's a battle field. We are on a battle field tonight. Make a decision. Are we gonna stand on the side-lines quietly standing there while our country gets raped? Are we gonna ante up and do something about it? You're god damn right we are.

(Derek, American History X, 1998).

This gives the viewer a chance to step into the shoes of a neo-Nazi extremist seeing their views. Chanter states that 

American History X grabs you because it throws you inside the racist mind […]Derek is chilling because he’s not merely spewing bile and epithets - he’s making racism make sense – like a master rhetorician…. We get that racism is bad. American History X works because it risks showing us why some people believe it’s good.

(Chanter, 2008, page 204)

Derek later tries to rebuild a new idea, an anti-racist view. American History X not only shows us why people believe racist propaganda but it shows us the class oppression in America at the time, which makes these ideas and views plausible. The film indicates the gender oppressions that American women still faced, treated with no respect and expected to stay domesticated. This treatment of women is not a positive depiction, showing the sexist attitudes of the working class neo-Nazi groups and the marginalisation of women at the time. American History X shows the continued oppression of women and the fact that their ideas and views do not count; for example Derek’s sister Davina tries to explain that their neo-Nazi views are wrong and they dismiss her anti-racist remarks. When Derek’s mother and sister agree with Murray, who is his mother’s new love interest, and Jewish, Derek handles his sister violently for agreeing with Murray and silences his mother,

 

Murray:        What are you doing Derek, this is your family?

Derek:           Right, my family, my family so you know what? I don’t give two shits about you or anybody else or what you think, you’re not a part of it and you never will be.

Murray:        That has nothing to do with it

Derek:           Oh it doesn’t? You don’t think I see what you’re trying to do here? You think I’m gonna sit here and smile while some fucking kike tries to fuck my mother? it’s never gonna happen Murray, fucking forget it, not on my watch not while I’m in this family…I will fucking cut your shilock nose off and stick it up your ass before I let that happen. Coming in here and poisoning my family’s dinner with you Jewish, nigger loving, hippy bullshit! Fuck you! Fuck you! Yeah, walk out. Asshole, fucking kabala reading mother fucker, get the fuck outta my house! See this that means not welcome!

 (Murray and Derek, American History X, 1998)

Derek shows Murray his tattoo, a swastika over his heart, stating “not welcome”. “There are reasons and personal justifications for Derek’s beliefs” (Ewing, 2010), stemming from a conversation with his father, stating that everything wrong in America is down to the minorities. Derek’s father is shot by a black youth whilst putting a fire out. Neo-Nazi leader Cammeron comforts Derek and turns a group of youths into an army of ‘white soldiers’ for his old fashioned racist attacks. He brainwashes them into thinking that it was the black people’s fault their father was killed. Derek kills two black youths trying to steal his car and is sent to prison for three years.

 

Derek and others of the neo-Nazi’s feel they are bottom of the classes in America and even fall below the minorities and feel that is not right. The neo-Nazi’s attack and terrorise non-white American citizens, as in their opinion the white American deserves those jobs that the minorities have. The neo-Nazi’s do not see the economic poverty suffered and danger the immigrants face to achieve safety from their native country; they only see that what is being taken is rightfully theirs. The ideas are rooted in ‘whiteness’, showing a scene where a Korean female shop worker is assaulted then milk is poured over her skin. “This image condenses within it not only a reference to the sustenance of the material body, but also a reference to the mother-nation. The message is clear enough: become like us. Be white” (Chanter, 2008, page 207). The idea is impossible, so shall never be accepted. The shot is filmed in slow motion and close up showing the effect of the liquid erasing the skin colour and provoking ideas that women have a place; such as traditional domestic duties and breastfeeding. The milk punishes her, showing her: this is the milk you should be feeding your children at home, not taking away jobs from white men so they cannot provide for their traditional white family.

The overall ending of the film shows the moral rights rediscovered by Derek and Danny, but it is too late for Danny as he is shot and killed at his school by a black youth he had been feuding with due to his previously racist views. Danny did not have time to rectify his wrongs and he paid the price. Derek blamed himself knowing Danny idolized him and would continue his racist legacy, leading to his death. Danny previously stated that  

I hate the fact that it’s cool to be black these days, I hate this hip-hop fucking influence in white fucking suburbia and I hate Tabatha and all her Zionist MTV fucking pigs telling us we should get along save the rhetorical bullshit Hillary Rodham Clinton cause it ain't gonna fucking happen.

(Danny, American History X, 1998)

Danny’s views change when forced to write a history paper on his brother’s life, finally understanding the root of their racist views. But this sudden realisation had come too late. There is a scene where the brothers dismantled their bedroom 

Upon his parole, Derek sheds his neo-Nazi identity by pulling down the Nazi banners and Hitler posters hung on his bedroom wall and warning his brother to sever his ties with the skinheads. The references to the Holocaust in American History X taint skinhead racism by linking it to Nazi genocide.

(Baron, 2005, page 204)

The brother’s reformation has a moral message; what is learnt through family generations can be unlearnt; new lessons learnt and violence prevented. American History X makes the audience look at themselves and the prejudices they have made in the past or present. It makes us question personal views of racist movements and the views they preach, and it makes us question why skin colour still matters, why in this day and age racism is still scarily evident in numerous societies. Ratnakar states “American History X is a movie that holds up a mirror to the ugly racism prevalent in us. It’s not a pretty picture, but it’s something we can’t choose to ignore” (Ratnakar, 2009). American History X encourages the audience to look at the social problems of both racism and gender oppression. One can say that this film is an important tool used by the film industry to show the effects of racism and its lasting effects.

 

Bibliography

Baron L., (2005) Projecting the Holocaust into the Present: The Changing Focus of Contemporary Holocaust Cinema. USA: The Rowman and Littlefield Publishing Group Inc.

Chanter, T., (2008) the picture of abjection: film, fetish, and the nature of difference. Indiana:  Indiana University Press

Ewing, J. B, (2010) American History X (1998). Cinema Sights. [ONLINE] http://cinemasights.wordpress.com/2010/10/10/american-history-x-1998/ (Accessed 31/01/2011)

Fulwood, N., (2003) One Hundred Violent Film That Changed Cinema. United States of America: Sterling Publishing Co.

Levy E., (1999) Cinema of Outsiders: The Rise of American Independent Film. United States of America: New York University Press.

Palumbo, P., (Date Unknown) ‘Ethnicity and Linguistic Tyranny in America: The Use of "Nigger" in American History X’. The Columbia Journal of American Studies

Ratnakar (2009) American History X – The Mind of a Racist. Passion for Cinema. [ONLINE]  http://passionforcinema.com/american-history-x-the-mind-of-a-racist/ (Accessed 30/01/2011)

Filmography

American History X (1998) Tony Kaye. USA: Newline Cinema.

 By Lea Weller BA