In diversity, there is strength and
there is beauty. But, there was a time when people saw diversity as an
unnatural state, they prefer to stay with their “kind” of people only and
thought that mixing with other people of different cultural backgrounds will
bring harm to them; these people were prejudiced, Frankly, even in this modern
era of the world, we still prejudge each other. Prejudice is a universal trait
and it’s a part of our survival instinct. Nevertheless, we shouldn’t judge
someone based on minimal information. We can’t assume somebody’s personality
solely based on their skin colour and appearance. Prejudice leads to racism, an
immense setback which occurred in the past and is still present today. Even
though it is not such of a big problem nowadays, it still happens. Racism is a
type of oppression. It is a belief that human beings of different race have
distinctive characteristics which determine their respective cultures. It fuels
the idea of that one’s own race is superior and has the right to dominate
others. Some people conjecture that individuals of other races have less value
so they can do whatever they want towards these minorities.
Overcoming
racism in our society is difficult to do but it is not impossible, it takes
time providing that there are consistent efforts. We can evidently see it in
the movie “Remember The Titans” which is based on the true story of an African
American football coach, Herman Boone, hired by a Virginia high school in
1971. Released in 2000, this movie was produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and
directed by Boaz Yakin. Remember The Titans was set in the early 1970s, where
two schools in Alexandria, Virginia integrate forming T.C. Williams High
School. Herman Boone was hired to coach the school’s football team, taking over
coach Bill Yoast position as Head Coach. As a token of respect, Boone offered
Yoast an assistant coordinator coaching position. Tensions arise when players
of different races are forced together on the same football team called Titans.
Many of these tensions are eased during the two-week training camp in
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Black and white football team members frequently
clash in the beginning of their football camp but during rigorous training,
they learn that the only way to escape misery is to work together and
eventually achieved racial harmony. When the team returns to Alexandria united,
they found that the city was in turmoil due to the forced desegregation of the
high school. In the midst of battling racial prejudices, the Titans go through
the season games undefeated and gradually gains the support of the community.
Remember The Titans gave me an
emotional roller coaster ride; the touching moments made me cried and the
inspiring moments fuelled my passion to fight harder against racism. The
precious friendship and teamwork portrayed between the football team players
show that you shouldn’t put skin colour or race as an excuse to segregate other
people. Furthermore, the movie depicts the nature of racism within people’s
lives very well and shows how common loves for different things can attract
people together so that simple and wrong beliefs are forgotten. One of the
memorable lines, which was said by Coach Yoast, taken from the movie is
“…I hope you boys have learned as much from me this year as I've learned from you. You've taught this city how to trust the soul of a man rather than the look of him. And I guess it's about time I joined the club”.
It is amazing to think that this movie was based on
a true story. In my opinion, the message that the movie sends out is really
powerful and effective. From the movie, you really know that in diversity,
there is strength and beauty. The world should open their eyes and see the
harmony resulted from the unity of multi-cultural individuals. Everybody
deserves to be treated equally and rightfully. If only closed minds came with
closed mouths, racism would not exist.
Confucius — 'Don't do unto others what you don't want others to do unto you.'
