Mississippi Burning

Mississippi Burning

-1988 American crime drama based loosely on the FBI investigation into the real life murders of 3 civil rights workers in Mississippi in 1964

Plot
-In 1964, after 3 civil rights workers are reported missing, 2 FBI agents are sent to investigate in rural Jessup County, Mississippi, which is modeled after Neshoba County, where the real murders took place. The 2 agents go different ways about investigating this; Agent Alan Ward(Willem Dafoe), a young liberal northerner, takes a direct approach to the investigation while Agent Rupert Anderson(Gene Hackman), a former Mississippi sheriff who understands the race relations, takes a more gentle approach

-It's hard for the 2 to work in town, as the local sheriff's office is linked to a major branch of the KKK, and the agents can't talk to the local black community due to their fear of KKK retaliation. Slowly but steadily, relations between the FBI and local Jessup County sheriff's office break down. Things boil over when the bodies are found and the sheriff deputy, Clinton Pell, realizes his wife gave their locations to Anderson, and he assaults her. When Anderson sees her in the hospital, he rushes off to confront Pell, but is stopped by Ward. After a brief fight, the 2 agree to work together and bring down the Jessup County branch of the KKK using Anderson's yet unused approach.

-The new plan starts when the mayor is abducted. He comes around in a remote shack, alone except for a black man(Badja Djola) wearing a mask similar to those used by the KKK in the film. Relating a story of how a young black man was castrated by the KKK, he implies the mayor will likewise be disfigured unless he talks by wielding a razor blade while relating the tale. In reality, the abductor is an FBI operative specially flown in. The mayor gives the names of those involved.

-Anderson uses the information to send fake invites to the involved KKK parties. They soon realize it's a setup and leave with out discussing the murders. The FBI, who are eavesdropping, home in on Lester Cowens, a jr. member of the outfit, as being nervous and not shutting up. He is later picked up by the FBI and driven around town to make it look like he is cooperating with the FBI. He is dropped off in a black community to give him time to "think" about stuff

-Anderson goes to a barbershop where Deputy Pell is getting a shave with a straight razor. He switches places with the barber and he nicks Pell with the razor. Anderson brutally beats Pell, for his role in the murders and assault of his wife. Ward, waiting outside, attempts to go in but is stopped by other FBI agents Anderson called in. Lester, nervous by now, is at home when his window is shot out. On the lawn is a burning cross. Cowens tries to flee in his truck but is caught by 3 hooded men who begin to hang him. He is rescued by the FBI, who chase the thugs away. The FBI now has evidence that can be used to find the murderers. They charge everyone involved with civil rights violations to ensure they'll be tried at the federal level. 4 of them had been convicted of a firebombing of a black man's home. Most are found guilty and receive 3-10 years.

-The film ends with a Sunday morning service on the site of a destroyed church attended by both white and black churchgoers.

Cast

• Gene Hackman as Agent Rupert Anderson
• Willem Dafoe as Agent Alan Ward
• Frances McDormand as Mrs. Pell
• Brad Dourif as Deputy Clinton Pell
• R. Lee Ermey as Mayor Tilman
• Gailard Sartain as Sheriff Ray Stuckey
• Stephen Tobolowsky as Clayton Townley
• Michael Rooker as Frank Bailey
• Pruitt Taylor Vince as Lester Cowens
• Badja Djola as Agent Monk
• Kevin Dunn as Agent Bird

A Time to Kill

A Time to Kill

-1996 film adaptation of John Grisham's 1989 novel of the same name
-Set in Canton, Mississippi, revolves around the rape of a young girl and the arrests of the rapists and their murder by the girl's father, Carl Lee Hailey.

Plot
-2 white racists, Billy Ray Cobb(Nicky Katt) and Pete Willard(Doug Hutchison), coome a 10 year old black girl named Tonya Hailey(Rae'Ven Larrymore Kelly) in rural Mississippi. They violently rape and beat Tonya and dump her in a nearby river after a failed attempt to hang her. She survives, and the men are arrested. Tonya's father, Carl Lee Hailey(Samuel L. Jackson) seeks out Jake Brigance(Matthew McConaughey), an easy going, white lawyer. Carl Lee is worried that the men may be acquitted due to the deep seated racism in the Mississippi Delta area. Brigance admits the possibility. carl Lee acquires an M-16 rifle, goes to the county courthouse and opens fire on both of the rapists, killing them and also unintentionally injuring Deputy Looney(Chris Cooper). Carl Lee is jailed and Brigance agrees to provide council. He intends to enter a plea of not guilty by reason of temporary insanity.

-The rape and revenge killing gains national attention, in addition to the Ku Klux Klan in the area. Freddie Lee Cobb(Kiefer Sutherland), the brother of Billy Ray, calls Brigance and his fmaily with death threats and organizes a Klan chapter in the county. The DA, Rufus Buckley(Kevin Spacey), decides to seek the death penalty and Judge Omar Noose(Patrick McGoohan) denies Brigance a change of venue. Brigance seeks help for hsi defensse team from a sleazy divorce lawyer named Harry Rex Vonner(Oliver Platt), who's also his friend, guidance from liberal acitivist Lucien Willbanks(Donald Sutherland). He is also approached by Ellen Roark(Sandra Bullock), a law student from Massachusetts. He reluctantly accepts her cooperation and the trial begins. The Klan, which has a member inside the sheriff's department, burns a cross on Brigance's front lawn. This incident causes an argument between Brigance and his wife to the point that if Jake did not help Carl, none of this would have happened.

-When Jake finds a bomb near his house, the police evacuate his family and the house explodes, prompting Jake to send his family away to keep them safe. As the trial begins, the KKK march down the streets of Canton, and meet a large group of mostly black protesters at the courthouse. Chaos ensues outside as the police lose control. A black teen kills the KKK Grand Dragon(Kurtwood Smith), with a Molotv Cocktail, burning him to death. Brigance's attraction to Roark grows, and when he goes home, he finds that arsonists have burned his house. The next morning, the National Guard is called to take care of the rioting, Brigance sits on the steps of his house. That's when Harry Rex walks up and tells Jake it's time to quit. Brigance argues that quitting now would mean his sacrifices would be worthless. In a restaurant, the jury is discussing the verdict, with all but 1 leaning toward a guilty verdict, and it looks Carl Lee will be imprisoned

-Freddie Lee Cobb shoots at Brigance as he exits the courthouse, but misses. The bullet hits a national guardsman, paralyzing him. Roark is kidnapped by Klansmen, beaten, tied to a tree in her underclothes and left to die. She is rescued by an informant called "Mickey" because of the Mickey tattoo on his arm. He is an informant, undercover as a Klansman, Tim Nunley(John Diehl). Out of options, Brigance goes to see Carl in his cell and advises him to accept a lesser plea. Carl refuses, telling Brigance that his views on justice are wrong, adding "our kids will never play together".

-The courthouse is packed to see the closing arguments. Brigance tells the jury to close their eyes and listen to a story. He describes, in slow and painful detail, the rape of a 10 year old girl, mirroring the story of Tonya's rape. He then asks the jury "Now imagine she's white". The final burst of images challenges the anture of the trial, raising the real question: within the racist nature of the community, which crime took place? That the actions of Carl Lee Hailey would be seen as justified had he been white. The argument that Brigance makes is that if the jury can be compelled to spare the life of a white man for a vengeful murder, they must do the same for a black man. After time, a black child runs out of the court shouting "He's innocent!" Cheering ensue. The KKK, angry, get riled up again. Sheriff Ozzie Walls(Charles S. Dutton) arrests Freddie Lee, as well his own racist deputy. The movie ends with Brigance and his family coming to Carl Lee Hailey's family picnic and Carl's daughter Tonya playing with Brigance's daughter. Jake says "Just thought the kids could play together".

Cast
Sandra Bullock as Ellen Roark, a law student working free for the defense
Samuel L. Jackson as Carl Lee Hailey, defendant
Matthew McConaughey as Jake Brigance, defense attorney for Carl Lee Hailey
Kevin Spacey as Rufus Buckley, prosecuting attorney
Brenda Fricker as Ethel Twitty, secretary to Brigance
Oliver Platt as Harry Rex Vonner, attorney assisting defense
Charles S. Dutton as Ozzie Walls, Canton Sheriff
Ashley Judd as Carla Brigance, Jake's wife
Patrick McGoohan as Judge Omar Noose, presiding judge
Kiefer Sutherland as Freddie Lee Cobb, Bill Ray's racist brother
Donald Sutherland as Lucien Wilbanks, a disbarred lawyer and Jake's mentor
John Diehl as Tim Nunley, a Klansman, later informant (Mickey Mouse)
Doug Hutchison as James Louis "Pete" Willard, a rapist
Nicky Katt as Billy Ray Cobb, a rapist
Chris Cooper as Dwayne Looney, the deputy accidentally shot by Hailey
Anthony Heald as Dr. Wilbert Rodeheaver, state psychiatrist
Rae'Ven Larrymore Kelly as Tonya Hailey, Carl Lee's daughter, rape victim

Racial Profiling and More

Racial Profiling

Racial Profiling: assuming things about a certain race, national, religious, ethnic group without more knowledge of that group. Also known as stereotyping

Examples:

• Asians are short, will be experts at martial arts, run laundromats/dry cleaners, all look the same.
• Blacks are pimps/drug dealers
• Latinos are lazy, be gardeners/landscapers or all live in one house
• Italians will be with the mob, or have greased up hair
• British people are stuck up, walk around wearing bowler hats, carrying umbrellas or British men being gay
• Jewish people are nitpicky misers.

Racial Segregation and Violence

Jim Crow Laws: state and local laws started between 1876 and 1965. It had a supposedly "separate but equal" status for black Americans, but we all know how that ended up. It was another form of segregation

Sundown Towns: this term refers to towns where only white residents were allowed to live. This kind of stuff happened between 1890 and 1965 as well. Hate groups, such as the KKK were drawn to sundown towns. The reason for the name is because there were derogatory signs saying that minorities couldn't be present at sundown. These kinds of towns don't allow any race/ethnic group. Most notably Americans of African descent. If they were found after sunset, they risked a beating or being imprisoned.

Out West, sundown towns started popping up because of the ever increasing number of Chinese and Japanese immigrants living in the West. People started creating these towns because they were competing with the Asian immigrants for jobs

Also people of other races and ethnicities have been subjected to some kind of persecution, such as:

• Black people having to sit in the back of a bus
• American-born Japanese in internment camps
• German-Jews having to wear the Star of David and then go to concentration camps
• American Indians having their land taken away from them in treaties, being put on reservations and having the greedy white man and his family take their land and desecrate it.

There were also hate groups ready to dispense what they called justice to people they thought were unworthy of living in the US. Groups like the KKK, the White Knights, neo-Nazi skinheads, etc

The KKK usually burned crosses, used terror, violence, and even went as far as rape to get theier point across. If they were supposed to be so brave, why did they wear hoods? That just shows they're cowards. Now, you'll probably know that this kind of garbage really pisses me off!! My grandfather hated anything to do with racism/discrimintation, and I'm definitely with him. I HATE RACISM!!!!!!!!!

Labeling

Labeling: the act of putting someone's ethnic background before American, even if they were born in America

Some examples include:
Lucy Liu and B.D. Wong and Russell Wong are Chinese-American

Lucy Liu, one of my favorite actresses



B.D. Wong as Dr. George Huang on Law and Order:SVU



Russell Wong, Romeo Must Die

James Shigeta and Carrie Ann Inaba and James Iha are Japanese-American


Smashing Pumpkins co-founder and guitarist James Iha. He's kinda cute....



Carrie Ann Inaba

James Shigeta as Joseph Yoshinobi Takagi in Die Hard

Wes Studi and Johnny Depp and Rudy Youngblood are Native American


Johnny Depp



Wes Studi

Rudy Youngblood

Gabriel Iglesias and Cheech Marin and Christina Aguilera are Latin-American


Cheech Marin

 

Gabriel Iglesias

Christina Aguilera on the set of the video for Maroon 5's new single Moves Like Jagger. She should know how to dance like Jagger, considering she was grinding up against him, practically screwing him on stage at the Stones's New York concert in 2006. FYI, she's the blonde one with the hat on!!

Singing the song Live with Me



Don't believe me? Look at these 2 pics. They're getting pretty close, lol!


Halle Berry and Denzel Washington and Viola Davis are African-American


OOOOHHHH, Denzel, what a major hottie!! Love his smile, makes me melt......

 

Halle Berry, one of my fave actresses



Viola Davis, she's so beautiful


Lily Collins(daughter of British musician and Genesis member Phil Collins) and Keanu Reeves(Mother is of English descent) and Gregory Peck are of British-American descent.
  

Both parents were of English descent

 

Her dad, Genesis singer Phil Collins


 

Lily Collins




Keanu Reeves



Racism Against Chinese and American Chinese

In the late 1800s, there was a an extreme discrimination against Chinese immigrants, and it was furthered by the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which led to banning all Chinese immigrants from entering the US until 1943.

When the first Transcontinental Railroad began construction, a massive majority of the people working on it were either Chinese or Japanese immigrants. They were often delegated to doing the dangerous work of blasting the tunnels with TNT for the trains

Chinatown: a big neighborhood where a large amount of people of Chinese ancestry live

December 3, 2009: 26 Asian students were attacked and beaten brutally by their black peers throughout the day, 13 of them ended up in the hospital. This all occurred at South Philadelphia High School. There was a major history of violence towards the Asian population of the school. It goes as follows: 64.6% black, 22.4% Asian, 6.3% white, 5.8% Latino

Vincent Chin: American-born Chinese man beaten to death on June 23, 1982. He was an employee of the Chrysler plant in Detroit, Michigan. He was beaten to death by plant superintendent Ronald Ebens and his stepson Michael Nitz. On June 19, 1982, a fight occurred at the Fancy Pants strip club where Chin was having his bachelor party. Him, Ebens and Nitz were thrown out of the club. Nitz and Ebens were throughly angry that auto industry jobs were being lost to Japanese workers. Ebens and Nitz repeatedly called him a Jap even though he was an American born Chinese man. Ebens and Nitz and him started fighting, but Chin got away. Ebens and Nitz even paid a guy $20 to help find Chin before finding him in a nearby McDonald's. He tried to get away, but Nitz held him down while Ebens beat him senseless with a baseball bat. He slipped into a coma and was rushed to Henry Ford Hospital where he died 4 days later on June 23, 1982

Native Americans/American Indians

How can people honestly think this way about people? Seriously, it's ridiculous!!

Trail of Tears: forced relocation and movement of Native Americans from present day. Today it's considered an act of genocide. Good, it's a law to do something bad to the Indians. This removal included many members of the Cherokee, Seminole, Creek, Choctaw tribes. Out of the 15,000 Indians that were "relocated", 4,000 died from exposure, disease, starvation

There are 562 known Indian reservations in the US. The poorest reservation in the US is the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in Shannon County, South Dakota. The conditions aren't exactly 5 star resort on reservations, with an abundance of suicide, unemployment, short life expectancies, rampant drug/alcohol abuse, infant mortality, poverty

The largest Indian tribes to date are the Cherokee, Choctaw, Navajo, Sioux, Apache, Chippewa, Blackfoot, Iroquois, Pueblo.

Sometimes things between the American Indian tribes and govt. can explode into violence. Most notably the Wounded Knee incident. On Feb. 27, 1973, 400 members of the American Indian Movement took control of Wounded Knee. Local cops and US military were called in to help. And at the nearby Pine Ridge Reservation, 2 FBI agents were killed by Leonard Peltier because they were trying to arrest someone who wanted in on an armed robbery. He is currently serving 2 life sentences.

Racism Against Latinos

Zoot Suit Riots: series of riots that occurred in Los Angeles during WWII, specifically 1943. The riots occurred because young servicemen would encounter these young men wearing the infamous 'zoot suit'

•  Zoot Suit: a high waisted, wide legged tight cuffed suit that usually came in a color like peach, coral, tan, beige or other hued colors and came with a wide brimmed fedora hat that sometimes had a feather on it. The suit also had a coat with wide lapels, and wide padded shoulders.

The zoot suits were almost always popularly worn by Italians, people of Mexican heritage or Latino heritage or people of African heritage during the 1940s.

Zoot Suit Riots

Racism Against Japanese and American-born Japanese

History

• What: forcible relocation of all who were Japanese-born and living in the US or all American-born citizens of Japanese ancestry or parentage
• When: 1942. shortly after the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese Imperial Navy
• Approximately 110,000+ American-born Japanese citizens and Japanese-born citizens living in the US that lived along the Pacific Coast were moved to "War Relocation Centers". While any Japanese that lived along the West Coast were interned in Hawaii, where 150,000 of the internees made up 1/3 of the territory's population.
• Of the 150,000 people who were interned, nearly 62% were Americans
• This was part of Executive Order 9066, which stated that all American-born citizens of Japanese parentage and Japanese-born citizens in the US were to be put into camps.
• The Japanese people were put into camps because they were suspected of being spies for the Japanese troops in the air, land and sea, and also some were suspected of loyalty to their homeland.

Internment Camps:

• Manzanar: 10,046 people

• Tule Lake: 18,789 people

• Poston: 17,814 people

• Gila River: 13,348 people

• Granada: 7,318 people

• Heart Mountain: 10,767 people

• Minidoka: 9,937 people

• Topaz: 8,130 people

• Rohwer: 8,475 people

• Jerome: 8,497 people

Tule Lake became a detention facility for those deemed "high security risk", for those deemed "unloyal" abd for those who would be deported back to Japan

The conditions were simply horrible:

• Barracks of simple design with tar paper roofs, without plumbing, or cooking facilities
• The barracks were based on a military style design and not made for cramped family living
• Heart Mountain had a barbed wire fence surrounded compound with no partitions in the toilets, cots for beds, budget of .45 cents per meal. Most of the West coast living families had little time to pack so they were unable to pack good clothing to brave the sudden climate changes.