Never
before has the filmviewing public been sensitized to the conditions
that spawn the American neo-Nazism of the skinheads. In American
History X, British-born Tony Kaye zeroes in on race
relations within the United States in graphic detail (though
he has attempted to dissociate himself from the film because
the studio has changed a lot in an effort to sell to a wider
public). Imagine living in an all-White neighborhood with
little crime, where children walk to school in peace. Next,
fast forward to the time when African Americans are buying
homes closer to your own home, getting jobs with a few points
less on civil service tests than your White friends, attending
a formerly peaceful all-White school, and taking over a public
park with sheer numbers. If you cannot afford to move elsewhere
or just prefer to stay, what do you do? For the protagonist
in the film, joining a neo-Nazi hate group, challenging African
Americans, and using violence seems OK . . . that is, until
he finds himself in prison. Serving a three-year sentence
for murder because a jury excuses his violence as self-defense
against two African Americans trying to steal his truck, he
realizes that his White brothers are running a racket that
he detests. He also discovers a congenial African American
serving six years for stealing a television set that happened
to fall on the foot of a police officer when he stumbled out
of the store; he saves his life in prison as an outcast. Soon,
the political arguments against a racially integrated America
seem overtaken by the realization that a more peaceful approach
is the only way to have peace of mind as well as peace in
society. But how? Is it too late? When do we get the sequel?
Our hero’s conversion to a more peaceful approach is an individual
one, will not convince the skinheads who happen to see the
film, but gives us all a more profound understanding of the
tensions of fin-de-siècle race relations in urban America.
Liberal arguments for peaceful integration are shouted down
by the articulate neo-Nazi in the early part of the film,
but everyday experience alongside a decent African American
later turns the tide. MH
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