Rosewood Ignorance

White ignorance has led to the continuing cycle of brutality against blacks in America. The movie Rosewood exemplifies how established cultural prejudices caused by fear lead to violent acts. Fear made by racial preconceptions, makes room for the imagination of the individual that allows such bigotry to exist. Similarly, as Dr. J.W. Wiley puts it, “racism is largely predicated on unfamiliarity with the “Other”” (Wiley 121). America's racist past has created a wall that separates people of different color from engaging with each other. It is the wall that allows people to have prejudicial attitudes towards others. This ongoing evil that is spoiling America, is rooted in society's ignorance. Furthermore, it is important to understand the benefits …show more content…
The absence of Sheriff Walker sticking to the law, allowed white supremacists to dictate justice. In response, Sylvester Carrier knew there was no escape from the riot so he took arms being the only person that could keep his family safe. This was a huge turning point in the movie, as it stood as a symbol for Blacks to stand up against whites. In the same fashion Marcus Garvey argued “It is no fault of ours that we are what we are- if we are black, brown, yellow or near white, responsibility for the accident is not ours, but the time has now come for us to get together and make of ourselves a strong and healthy race” (Brotherman 42). Sylvester’s courage to stand for his people was also shown earlier when he ordered a couple of white guys to stop harassing his younger cousin while carrying a shotgun. This was such an absurd action by a black man in the 1920s, that the scene truly captures the bravery in Sylvester's …show more content…
It was considered nationalistic during the red scare to refute liberal policies that would help out minorities, it was deemed as Socialist or Communist. Most of those who lived in the early 20th century, bought into the fear of Communism. This fear came from a misguided perception that the government pushed to wage war against Socialistic ideology. Once again, it was ignorance of the people, that allowed such groups to justify prejudices towards certain individuals. For example, Black civil rights leaders often were condemned for being “communist”, so that their message of equality became delegitimize. A. Philip Randolph spoke of his leaders as “These persons are not wild-eyed crackpots. They are not communist. They have no sympathy with Communists. They have no sympathy with Communist, Communism, its program or policies.”(AAH 275). This specifically connects to Melvin B. Tolson in the movie The Great Debaters, as Tolson was a highly distinguished professor, but it was his political views that received the most attention. Tolson was viewed more as a “communist” compared to how intellectual he was. This connects so well with racism because the fight against certain political principles that would have given aid to blacks was simply just a white lash. From Tolsons’ political beliefs to what happened in Rosewood, Florida, the problem is traditional