"Remember the Titans," directed by Boaz Yakin, is an American drama film which focused on the major social problem of racism. Every scene in the movie displayed racism and showed how it affects everyone. Based on a true story, "Remember the Titans" is a movie about events which occurred in 1971 and focuses on the racial attitudes and tensions of the football team at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Virginia. During 1971, federal laws were passed that required schools to desegregate within the South. These federal laws forced T.C. Williams High School, a white only school, to allow African Americans to attend school there.
Racism
At the beginning of the movie, we see the community of Alexandria in an uproar due to a young African American being killed by a white person. African Americans and whites surrounded the shop where the young teenager was killed to protest his death. They are all screaming, shouting, and throwing stuff at one another while the cops try to keep the two ethnic groups separated. The owner of the shop was outraged and began loading his gun to deal with the problem, until he was stopped by a cop. The white football players heard about the uproar and gathered up crowbars and chains to go down to the shop, until Coach Yoast (their white coach) stopped them. He took them back to the school, were Gerry (the white captain of the football team) stated he wanted all the blacks kicked off the team because he did not want to play with those "black animals." I personally found this very degrading to refer to Africans Americans as being no better than animals. This statement shows the audience how African Americans were inferior to whites during this period.
All the other teams within the system where composed of all white players and headed by white coaches. The school board offered Coach Boone the head coaching position at T.C. Williams High School due to the black color of his skin. He felt uncomfortable about this
Cited: Yakin, Boaz, dir. Remember the Titans. Walt Disney Pictures 2000.