Essay on Racism and Hate Crimes: A Look Into the Past and Present

Sometimes in early 2017, a few associates of a group naming themselves "Respect the Flag" were holistically sent to jail for terrorizing visitors, in Georgia and children at a birthday bash of an 8 years old African American girl (Abrams, 2017). According to Abrams, these men were directly pointing guns at the guests as well as the children while yelling racial insults and death threats. This kind of hateful activity has been an issue since time immemorial, even to date. Recent research in colleges shows how much many people, including tutors, have been engulfed into the arena of hate speeches and hateful actions mostly done in online platforms (Saha, Chandrasekharan, and De Choudhury, 2019). In her TED talk, Sally Kohn (2017) confronts a hard story about her life while illustrating how we can identify, challenge, and heal from our hateful kind of lifestyles. However, as she explains, the process is not an easy one. Nonetheless, Kohn (2017) challenges society to encourage strategies and practices that unite people as a congregation. This begs for the question: "what policies and practices that can bring the society together can help evade hateful actions among people?" Therefore, this paper seeks to explore how this same phenomenon has been espoused in society and advocated through films.

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The media and the film industry play a significant role in driving specific ideas within society. One of my favorite movies that explore this same notion is one of the best-selling films from Marvel world - Black Panther. The award-winning film explores unity, love, and hate in an entirely engaging manner. Being a movie dominated by the black community from Africa, the typical image of hunger, war, and underdevelopment is expected. However, this image is challenged as the country in Africa is portrayed as one of the wealthiest and most developed nations - hiding from the common eye. People of the Wakanda community as described are unified, with common grounds, as they help each other in times of trouble. On the other hand, the outside world looms with hatred - people fighting amongst themselves as others are driven by greed to fight

This kind of hate led to various incidences resulting in death and revenge amongst people of the same culture as they face opposition even from the outside world. Therefore, the movie showcases how hatred amongst people who ought to be together can lead to devastating effects. Afterward, due to the unity of the Wakanda people and the love they all bear to their land, they manage to defeat the enemy and rise to their feet once again. The policies used in this movie to unite the community include fostering a love for one another while also advocating for leadership that stands for the same virtue. What is more, the members of the community learn to do good to another through their leadership - who end up using their endowment to reach out to less fortunate individuals.

Conclusion

In conclusion, hate is a lifestyle that only brings more hate while establishing weakness amongst people. This is even showcased by the sad story that Sally Kohn confesses in her TED talk. What stands out is the fact that no matter how much one enjoys hating another party, at one point or another, it always affects their own life. This same notion is thoroughly explored in the movie "Black Panther" by Marvel Studios. As this draft has shown, hatred brings betrayal, war, and disorganization. However, starting from the leadership, a society can learn to love one another and foster unity amongst themselves, despite their differences and diversity.

References

Abrams, A. (2017). The Psychology of Hate. Psychology Today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/nurturing-self-compassion/201703/the-psychology-hate

Kohn, S. (2017). What Can We do about the Culture of Hate [Video File]. TEDIdeas Worth Spreading. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/sally_kohn_what_we_can_do_about_the_culture_of_hate/transcript?language=en#t-1052524

Saha, K., Chandrasekharan, E., & De Choudhury, M. (2019). Hateful Speech in Online College Communities.