Race or Ethnicity

Out of all of the topics, I am choosing to write about racial conflict. Racial conflict can be defined as the discrimination of a person or group of people due to race or ethnicity. In 2018 along with the near past, this has become a huge problem in our society. This is why it is so important in sociology. Now, when I think of racial conflict, the word conflict stands out. It makes me think of fighting, but conflict doesn't always mean fighting physically.

Racial conflict can be done mentally, physically, and verbally. You may ask, how mentally? Being discriminated due to racial conflict, can definitely affect someone mentally. One of a different race or ethnicity can begin to think of themselves as “less-than” the opposite race or ethnic group. When truthfully, we are all the same. One movie that comes to mind when thinking of racial conflict, is the movie Glory Road.

Racial Conflict in Glory Road

Race conflict can basically be seen as discriminating against someone due to there race. Racial conflict has become a big problem in our society, and that is why it is a big part of sociology. A specific movie that deals with racial conflict is Glory Road. Glory Road’s racial conflict consists of many discriminating things that harm the basketball team mentally, verbally, and physically.

A little background on the movie would be that Glory Road is a movie about a unique basketball team during the 1960’s. During the time period of the 1960’s, discriminating against race was a huge problem. This basketball team was not like others in its time. This basketball team consisted of several African American men. At the time, all caucasian basketball teams were what the NCAA consisted of and basically required. This team defied all odds, which is what makes it so important.

Many players in the movie were affected mentally. Being affected mentally, can be one of the most harsh ways. It gets inside your head and allows you to have cloudy judgement. Throughout the movie, the team got called racial slurs and were talked very harshly upon, but in the beginning of the movie, the caucasian basketball players did not take to the African American players well. To me, this would affect me greatly. I would not want to be anywhere I was not wanted. We can say 'Shame on those players for making them believe that. They were kids though, they did not know better.' Unfortunately though, it was not only the team full of 'kids'. It was coaches as well. The head coach, Don Haskins, did not believe in seeing color, although the assistant coaches did. The assistant coaches were upset with Coach Haskins for not only putting so many African Americans on the team, but African Americans from all over the country. As said before, being talked about and frowned upon due to your skin color, is mental abuse. Although, the African American's on the team did not retaliate, it took the winning's of several different games before the team came together as one.

Later in the movie, the team did come together and become one big happy family. Unfortunately, the rest of America did not see it that way. The players started being verbally abused. One night, the team had been out, and eventually returned to their hotel room. When they returned to their hotel room, it was found vandalized with blood-smeared on the walls spelling out, 'Niggers die.' At that point, they did not see or care what they thought about one another. It was what the rest of America thought of them. This took a real toll on the boys. Caucasian or African American, they were a family now and they looked out for one another despite skin color.

Mental and verbal abuse has been shown. All that is left, is physical. Physical abuse was shown more then once in the movie, but one act that stuck out the most was when someone shoves a players face into a toilet. This happened a lot to African Americans back then, but it really showed reality of what does happen to people just because of their ethnicity or race. This is a big reason I chose this movie. This movie does not sugar coat anything. It shows explicit details of what happened to this specific basketball team and what possibly happened to other African Americans, emotionally or physically.

Racial conflict is no joke. As seen from examples in this movie, racial conflict can happen in more then one way: mentally, verbally, or physically. It is hard to comprehend, from a white, American girl standpoint, what someone from a different race or ethnic group has or had to deal with. I think times are changing and hopefully racial conflict will soon disappear, but along with time changing, it has also made a full circle. Racial conflict once was not something on the news or on social media every time you log on, but it seems it is coming back and coming back full steam ahead. Reasons like this is why it is so important to sociology. It is important to remember what has happened in the past, so we can refrain from it in the future.

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