Depiction of the Concept of Race: Malcolm X - Essay Example

Malcolm X
His following into the wrong crowd is the aftermath of finding a job with the New York-Boston line, where he is forced to make the choice of joining a gang by virtue of being a black person and being of a different ethnic grouping from the rest of society, which is being black (Omi 10). The scene of Malcolm facing justice is peculiar to race issues in that other members of society from other races engaging in similar or worse activities were let off, as is the case of the Ku Klux Klan, who killed his father and no action was taken against them. This shows that certain members of a certain race can be held accountable for their own actions, while the rest based on their race can go scot-free with no charge. Still, in this scene, another concept comes up, where there are races that are higher than the rest in regard to who qualifies to join which corps in society and who does not, which brings forth the concept of segregation based on race. This is seen in the same scene in that there are certain social problems that only affect certain races and not others, as Malcolm X is forced into the wrong crowd, where he joins a gang, not out of choice, but out of circumstances that he cannot help. With this in mind, the race shows the scene shows the inequity amongst different races as it shows the gang problem as being unique to young black people living in the ghetto.

The scene also raises the concept of moral responsibility found among different races, which is not common to all, as certain races tend to engage in certain conduct. This issue is intertwined with the earlier issue raised on unique problems affecting certain races in that joining gangs is made to appear as a thing only black youth would do and not the rest of the society. This is to mean that only black youth did drugs, as Malcolm X was an active participant in peddling coke for the local gang leader, according to the 1992 movie. The movie only depicts one other gang that is not of African American origin engaging in gang and criminal activity, which is the Ku Klux Klan, and its depiction is that it is a white supremacist group aimed at lowering the dignity of the local black people. The awareness of the moral issues is that racially, white supremacy groups are not morally wrong in trumping the interest and rights of the black people, who they perceive as lesser beings compared to themselves (Omi 11). In the race, the issue of double standards is brought again in this scene in that it shows the shifting goalposts of morality and rulings based on who is who in society, all based on the color of the skin and ethnicity.

The same scene of the Ku Klux Klan draws the concept of race as a concept, where segregation thrives based on cultural differences, as well as the differences of skin color. This is as can be seen in the killing of Malcolm X’s father when Malcolm X was a child, which then brings to perspective how race makes people socially incompatible based on color and cultural values. The Ku Klux Klan could not handle the fact that there were black people and white people in the same society thus social supremacy comes in.

In conclusion, the movie Malcolm X of 1992 on different levels draws out the concepts of race-based on social status, which appears as supremacist and segregation, which is seen in the social problems certain races face. As such, race in the movie is portrayed in different scenes and senses, but the same concepts are revealed, where races are seen to be a strong factor in society in terms of actions and consequences.