Tonisha Spratte Blog 9

 Blog 9 Racism!

The movie we started on Thursday was really captivating to me.  I kept thinking about it over the weekend.  There were so many different points within the first hour of this film.  I really liked the point of view of this movie; it showed that of the white man who despises blacks and foreigners or people of color.  I can’t say that I’ve seen this side of racism so clearly before.  There were a few instances where the reasoning for their hatred was stated, explained, or rationalized.  The two most prominent ones which stick out in my mind is the scene right before they raid the store and the dinner scene where the teacher is over (and he subsequently breaks things off with the boys’ mother).  The leader, Cameron Alexander, was the brains behind these people.  He saw a group of young white men who were tired of the fear they were living with.  He had these racist, Neo-Nazi, ideals which he then planted into their eager and willing minds.  He obviously believed in some/all of the ideals and arguments made by Hitler.  But why?  Why was it so simple to get the attention of these young men and woman and plant these racist/supremacist ideas in their head? 

                At one point, before the store raid, Derek made a speech, and in his speech he said something about the good hard working white man, who slaves to make a living for his family, and these foreigners come in and take jobs away from them.  So, it’s like America is only for white folks, everybody else get out.  In Imagined Communities Anderson basically says that nationalism and racism stem from the same place but went down different paths.  “Where racism developed outside Europe in the nineteenth century, it was always associated with European domination, for two converging reasons.  First and most important was the rise of official nationalism and colonial ‘Russification’.  As has been repeatedly emphasized official nationalism was typically a response on the part of threatened dynastic and aristocratic groups – upper classes – to popular vernacular nationalism.  Colonial racism was a major element in that conception of ‘Empire’ which attempted to weld dynastic legitimacy and national community.”   Therefore, one can argue that learned nationalism has affected theses young men and women in an unconscious or subconscious way.  Having been exposed to class differences and race differences as well as colonial history, where the white man was on top and inherently superior to the native inhabitants, they were easily captured in what___ had to say, especially since there was unrest between the whites and blacks/people of color. 

                A by-product of building a sense of nationalism was the racism that ensued.  When Cameron found Derek he found his protégé and was able to really control and influence this group of people with his Neo-Nazi ideals of white supremacy.  The upbringing of these young men and women along with the current tensions between the white and colored community left them open and ready for someone to come and provide structure and empowerment to them.  Racism which, according to Anderson, stems from ideals of “inherited superiority” was associated with European domination.  Therefore, could we say that if there was never any imperialistic rule or colonization, that there would be no racism?  Because there would be no imperialistic ruler who faced marginalization and had to create nationalism in order to remain relevant or a need for the indigenous people to rally together and forge a sense of nationalism in order to combat those in power.