American History X is a movie that was released in 1998 which follows two brothers who become part of a neo-nazi movement. The movie is told with a nonlinear narrative.
The entire movie follows Separatism. We can see from the beginning how much segregation flows throughout the movie. The older brother, Derek becomes somewhat of a figurehead amongst these groups, rallying up other members. After being woken up by his younger brother who heard noises of people trying to break into his car, he went out and shot them both. His younger brother, Danny is following closely in his footsteps by shaving his head and even getting a tattoo of his group. At school, he turns in a paper about Adolf Hitler's Mien Kampf showing his views about his ideology. Through flashbacks, we see many different issues which affected the way the brothers think about things.
Through one of the flashbacks, we hear that their father has been shot/killed in a blazer, the news reporter gets a statement from the younger Derek who states: "Blacks, Browns, Yellows... it's race related" which essentially starts his journey on this rampage of hatred which is passed down to his brother. He also states that aging and immigration is not 'white problem' but problems for other communities which is something that can be related to separatism.
Danny is fully exposed to the idea of white supremacy through his surroundings. We see him enter his bedroom which is plastered with neo-nazi themed decors, such as a Nazi sign wall hanging and a plethora of Hitler posters and photos. This helped shape his views and rhetoric towards others that we're not white. This is also taken due to another flashback that we see of Derek gathering people to go and bust up the grocers. Danny is present through the whole of this which also influences his views. We also see him at the beginning when Derek shoots the two black men. We can see that Derek meant for them to die as it was not one bullet that he shot at either of them but it was repeated.
Another flashback we see is when the family was sat around the table and the father is speaking to Derek. Derek states how Sweeney is an incredible teacher who is very engaging and how he is the best. He follows up with saying about how they are reading a book about the natives as this is what their essay is on. The father challenges him on his views towards the book stating that white books we're not good enough as a joke to the teacher who believed to be superior due to this 2 PhDs. The father tells him that he needs to question the stuff he says as it is bullshit or 'negro bullshit'. Prior to this, he explains how he has two black men 'covering his back' (he works as a police officer) and they only got the job because they were black. They came lower than other white men and this was something the father was not happy with.
During Derek's time in prison, he came to terms with who he was and his views on life. We see a shot in which he is the only white person who is standing out. We also see him speaking to someone who he works with in the prison who refers to him as being the 'nigger' due to the fact that he was the only one standing out due to his skin complexion. He becomes friends with other people who are part of a neo-nazi group but after spending time in the prison and befriending the black person, he starts pulling away from them and after embarrassing them, they rape him for being a 'negro sympathizer' and becoming friends with them. It was only for his friend that he worked with that they never touched him again. We see this at the end when he is released that he has his back covered by the black man. We can see here where the issue amongst race is put to one side and they actually show respect towards one another. This ultimately sets what's to happen throughout the rest of the movie.
We see Derek making a better life for himself and his family and trying to make things right. The night before he sets out to take his brother to class, he saw a car watching his house with black guys inside who was tasked with killing Danny. The day he goes to class, he is ambushed by Little Henry who shoots Danny dead. The ending is a voice over which states: "Hate is baggage. Life's too short to be pissed off all the time. It's just not worth it"
To finish, I believe that this showed great views on white supremacy and the hatred between white Americans and Afro-Americans. It goes to show that hatred is something that is taught therefore it can also be unlearned too as we can see some individuals from the movie, i.e. Derek showing this.
Sources: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_A96zd-hps - speech
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU9mI4fkiDo&t=1s - derek interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOzR5Jnd6bU&t=138s - fight
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