Remember The Titans

Words: 1391
Pages: 6

From the time the United States of America was founded, African Americans have faced a variety of brutal and cruel discrimination. From the harsh chains of slavery, to the Jim Crow laws that began in the 1880’s, to present day police brutality, African Americans continue to face hardships and racism day in and day out. The African American civil rights movement has been working to combat this discrimination for years. The black civil rights movement is influenced and propelled by pieces of artwork, such as the movie Remember the Titans and the movie 42 by highlighting the racism African Americans had to overcome to play their sport. Even before the United States was an independent country, African Americans were discriminated against, as …show more content…
Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, W.E.B. Du Bois, and many others, but one often overlooked way the movement progressed was through art. One of the most influential art pieces to the general American public are movies. One movie that highlighted racial discrimination against African Americans and influenced the African American civil rights movement was Remember the Titans. This movie “...follows the football team at Alexandria, Virginia’s T.C. Williams High School during the 1971 season, its first as an integrated school and team.” (Collett) The movie shows blatant acts of racism throughout its entirety. For example, referees made obviously bad calls against the Titans because they were an integrated team and coach by an African American, Coach Boone. Also, one of the white players purposely missed a block for a black teammate so that the black player would get hurt. In order to combat the racism within the team, during practice, Coach Boone organizes the players, who were originally divided by race, into offensive and defensive groups. He does this to force the players to work together within the different races. Initially, there is heavy strife between the white players and the African American players. However, the players eventually begin to work together and turn into a family by the end of the practices. When the team returns to the town full of racism, the players realize that they …show more content…
Due to police brutality against African Americans, particularly by white law enforcement, the Black Lives Matter movement has become one of the most prominent movements of today’s world. Because of social media, the African American civil rights movement has had light shed on it that it previously could not have had. This is why support for the movement has been rapidly growing in the past few years. Even professional athletes have made a stand for the movement, taking a knee during the national anthem at sporting events because they believe that the United States does not make a good enough effort to protect the civil rights of African Americans. One of the most known of these professional athletes is Colin Kaepernick, the starting quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers. Today, many people are beginning to back up the African American civil rights movement as it progresses towards total equality. I believe that the African American civil rights movement is a justified and powerful movement that is making rapid progress towards equality for African Americans. While African Americans technically have legal equality, I believe that they are still subject to racism and discrimination, whether it is done purposely or subconsciously. I support the movement as long as it remains a peaceful movement that does not use violence to obtain their goals. I think that all people should do their best to support