Please watch all of this 16 minute video from Netflix. You may need to watch twice to more fully grasp the details.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mqrhn8khGLM
What’s your reaction? Does this affect your perception of the current state of American society and race, or not really? Why or why not?  What do you think of the concept of reparations? Is this an effective genre (short film/documentary) for making one’s points?
After watching this documentary, I was surprised because I always knew that African American people or people of color in general are mistreated but this video put it in a different perspective. This video really shows how racist and selfish the United state is because they never respected or admitted their mistakes for those who were the victims. The United States is always making others feel less, even if other people work harder than Americans or white people. The video stated, “slaves didn’t represent wealth, they were wealth”, this showed the importance of slaves. America would not be what it is now without slaves or immigrants but yet these people still get less. This documentary is important because no one should be ignorant and know less about their people and the country they live in and represent. Sometimes the important points of history are missed out and it’s because it changes the point of view of the actual truth.
This doesn’t affect my perception of the current state of American society and race because I’m already aware of the mistreatment of people of color. I think that the concept of reparations is valid and if not done soon will never be done. As time goes on people who were alive during the Jim Crow era will become older and eventually pass away and will never receive compensation or know they were ever acknowledged, their wounds will never be addressed. Closing the wealth gap between black and white Americans will only get more difficult as time goes on because the gap will only grow. Short film documentaries are effective for making one’s point because it isn’t too long and gets to the point. It provides straightforward facts and information in a short form so people won’t get uninterested in trying to sit through a long documentary with the diminishing attention span there is today.
This video made me aware of how cruel and selfish the United States is. I wasn’t born here in the United States, but that doesn’t change my perspective on this country, the fact that there are a lot of ignorant people making others feel less and racially discriminating them based on what they think. But in fact, no one deserves to be discriminated in any way. This country doesn’t give enough credit to those from other countries or people from different races or cultures. But those are the same individuals who are making a change and working hard for the well-being of this country. The United States is famous for its freedom, but at the same time, this happens, and people feel isolated in one area; if they try to go somewhere else, they are afraid of discrimination.
This didn’t change my perspective on American society because we see racist events that has been big and very impactful to people. People of color were always mistreated past, present, and most likely future. American society has a bias opinion when it comes to race even when not shared aloud. The concept of reparation in terms of America with other races won’t work. people will traumatize from past events and the country won’t even make effort for it. Discrimination is still going on and, in their eyes, other races would be inferior to them. This is an effective genre because it gives facts while also giving context while also going back to the past and seeing what has happened and changed and didnt change.