This movie has gotten a fair amount of attention back when it first came out. Critics praised the themes and message that the movie was saying about Hate and the relation to Racism. It was even used as part of a campaign to raise awareness of Human Rights across several college campuses. There were debates about the film, with one group thinking the white gang (Disciples of Christ) were just a marginal group that only represented an extreme. I’m not going to dispute anything that has been previously talked about when others have analyzed the film. But I do believe that following the 2016 US Presidential Election and the aftermath of the 2020 US Presidential Election that there is a new layer of meaning that should be examined regarding the film.

By the end of the movie, the overall message we are supposed to take is that Hate doesn’t fix anything. It doesn’t improve anything if we are making actions based on that emotion. And the final scene of the movie illustrates the kind of consequences that come from acting on said emotion. But there is another important lesson that has been pointed out that I want to expand on slightly. In various scenes of the film, Derek Vinyard is shown to be second-in-command of a rising White Supremacy organization thanks to the mentorship of a man named Cameron Alexander. A seemingly average law-abiding citizen with a clean rep sheet that teachers his racist ideology to Derek following the death of the young man’s father. Derek then spreads the ideology to a bunch of lost kids to build the Disciples of Christ. And it is assumed by the audience that Cameron is where that Hate comes from. But there is a flashback towards the end of the movie where we see the real origin.

Back when Derek’s father was alive, there is a conversation about the new history teacher Derek has and the new literature they have to read for the class. The father makes comments expressing his thoughts on what he perceives to be affirmative action. There is even one moment where he claims to black men on his team became firefighters over two white men who allegedly were more qualified. Whether or not that’s true is up for debate. But the point here that other critics have pointed out is that the movie is showing how Hate is taught to the next generation. A cycle of violence based on misunderstanding on only focusing on the pain being inflicted. But I want to point out that this is only part of the cycle that I think is overlooked.

Derek Vinyard had the seed of Hate in him before his father’s death. Following that tragedy, he began giving in more to that emotion and repeating arguments and logic that is fed to him by someone else. A seemingly normal guy from a position of power he has over him in order to spread his own personal agenda. Then Derek goes to prison and slowly begins to realize that the logic he has believed in up to this point no longer holds up. He has been abandoned by his leader – someone who claims to understand Derek and the people of his community. But is later confirmed that he doesn’t share their experiences – experiences that many of them have gone through due to his manipulation. Even though Derek finds people he thought believed in the same things he did, he ends up leaving them and sees them as traitors. Only for him to be (literally) f***** over by the people he believed to be on his side.

This is admittedly a slightly long way of getting to my reinterpretation. If you are ever curious about why so many people follow men like David Duke or Donald Trump…well, this movie shows how and why. Everyone has the capacity to hate and act on logic that is contradictory or flawed because sometimes we don’t know the full context or story. But then someone comes along who presents themselves from a position of strength and understanding. They give us easy targets to project our Hate towards and they can get us to support them and help support their own agendas. Which oftentimes includes plans and actions that the followers no nothing about and would probably perceive as going against what was spoken to them in order for those leaders to get our support.

“American History X” is a look at a huge part of real American history that people choose to ignore. When people were arguing over the topic of Critical Race Theory, they used arguments such as they don’t want children to know this subject matter. Or even argue that there isn’t anymore Racism because the country voted for Barack Obama twice as President. The same country that then voted for a man who ran on messages and promises that completely go against many of the ideas and beliefs Barack Obama was fighting for. All the while not acknowledging the finer details that poke holes in their arguments and not realizing that they aren’t looking at the complete story.

In the end, this isn’t a brand new analysis of the film. But rather one that points out how slightly more current events show how truly relevant it is. A story that shows the journey of how so many people can follow a leader that offers them an outlet for their rage and pain. And how said leader can leverage that into more power and influence that spreads ideas that go against the very same country they claim to be fighting for. This isn’t an easy topic to talk about. And there are no easy ways to start fixing things. But the longer we continue to acknowledge the details many people don’t know about or acknowledge, the longer we keep the cycle going.