Get Out and Race

Race drives many controversial arguments in modern day. For example, some crimes in the United States reveolve around race, introducing a category in crime that is relatively new: hate crimes. What is interesting is the fact that hate crimes wouldn't be an issue if, per say, we didn't put so much emphasis on the race of the victim or perpatrator. If we put it into perspective, a crime is a person committing an offense that can be punished by law. A crime isn't a crime because a member of a race commits an action against another member of another race.

Racial profiling is the source of the categorization of these so called hate crimes. But racial profiling emphasizes just how high people nowadays regard race. This past week in AP English (besides that horrendous essay topic) was all about race and how important it can be in people's judgements. Whether it was portrayed through Champion of the World or Just Walk on By, both used a strategy of not naming a few of the characters, but including the race of the character, "black."

The pure tension and contreversiality that has arisen from this topic has fueled other forms of media as well. A popular film released last year by the name of Get Out revolves all around that tension. Unsurpirsingly, due to the sheer power in its message about race, it racked up substantial numbers in the box office, collecting 254 million dollars worldwide. While I don't necessarily agree with the act of judging people due to their race, the topic does generate quite the discussion.

Why is race so important in a person's evaluation of a peer?

Comments

  1. UnknownFebruary 4, 2018 at 2:04 PM

    Wow James, what an awesome post! I love the allusion to Get Out you used to illustrate your point on the tension between different races. i have a question, however: if someone actually commits a crime solely because of the victim's race, is it not a hate crime? This wouldn't be an exaggeration of the media, right?

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