John Yowan                                                                                                                 Hour 1

Mrs. Keeley                                                                                                                 Type 3

Freshman English                                                                                                                     

17 May 2003

 

Remember the Titans

 

            The movie “Remember the Titans” is a true story that took place in Alexandria Virginia in 1971. The movie is about the integration of black and white schools. The reason that schools were integrated was to help improve race relations between the black and white communities.

The movie “Remember the Titans” starts in Alexandria Virginia in 1971 during a time when many people were racist. The school board makes the decision to force the local black high school and the white high school to merge into one high school called T.C. Williams. They also make the decision to let the black high school football coach, Herman Boone become head coach. By doing this the old T.C. head coach, Bill Yoast is put into second place. At first, the white players decide to sit out the season but Coach Yoast manages to convince them to still play. Next Herman Boone takes the team to a two week training camp and then to try to keep them working as one team regardless of race. While there Coach Boones requires the students on the team to meet another team member of a different race daily. The not only have to meet them they have to learn all abut them. At first it did not work too well but then they stated to get along. At the same time, Yoast and Boone learn of a secret school board plan to fire Boone as soon once the team loses one game. Yoast then has to decide weather or not to follow his dreams or to support Boone. After camp the Titans win every game they play and then win the state championship.

I was surprised that the white team and the black team were able to learn to get along so quickly because they all grew up learning to hate each other. I was also surprised that the coach was able to get his team to work as one. I was glad the team members were able to put aside their differences and work together. Race should not be an issue in our society. Just because people have different colors of skin does not make them different inside.  

In my opinion this movie is very realistic. I think this because in 1971 in Virginia and most of the country many people were racist and did not want to be around people of another race. When I talk to my dad he said the he remembers when schools in that area of the country were integrated. My grandparents and my father and uncle would go and protest against racist issues a lot. My father grew up in Washington D.C. and said that he really didn’t see racism first hand unless he went outside of the city. He grew up with many black and white families living close together.

I grew up in northern Maryland. The schools that I went to had both black and white kids going to school together. People got along regardless of race. Race really didn’t matter. When I moved to Kansas last year and then started attending Chanute High School I started to see racism first hand. In the first couple of weeks of school here I saw a group of white kids call a black person a “Nigger” at school. I never saw or heard anyone say “Nigger” to a black person when I went to school in Maryland. It made me feel very angry towards the people that said that word to the black kid. When I came home from school that day I talked to my father about what happened and asked him why they did that and he said it was because they were “ignorant and uneducated”. Kids at my school also call people “Jews” when they think that person is stupid. That is another form of racism. I believe that people in our society need to become more educated and tolerant of different races. It would be a much better world if they could just get along.