American History X :: Movies Film

In the opening scene, we see Danny Vinyard, a young white supremacist, sitting in the principals office, waiting to be summoned. As we move into the office, we hear and see Dannys history teacher (Elliot Gould) explaining to the principal, Dr. Sweeney (Avery Brooks), that Danny wrote a book report on Adolf Hitlers Mein Kampf. The teacher tells Dr. Sweeney that he is offended by Dannys gesture and he wants to see him punished, declaring that Danny was pressured into writing the paper by his older brother Derek, although Sweeney assures him that Derek was not involved. Instead, Sweeney asks the teacher to leave and asks Danny to step in.Danny then puts an American iris diaphragm toothpick in mouth, Danny steps into the office and sits down. Dr. Sweeney begins yelling at Danny, revealing him that writing what he did is offensive. Sweeney tells him that he is now his new history teacher. The class is called American record X and the neighboring assignment is due tomorrow morning a pa per on his brother, Derek (Edward Norton), analyzing all the events leading up to Dereks incarceration and the subsequent affect on Dannys life. After this, Danny walks out. The next scene opens with three black boys beating up a white boy in the mens bathroom for telling the teacher that one of them cheated. Suddenly, Danny appears out of one of the stalls and blows the smoke from his cigargontte into one of the boys face. As the black boys leave angry, Danny helps the white kid from the ground and tells him that he needs to learn to stand up for himself. Soon we see Danny walking home from school through a park where some black boys are playing basketball. One of the players is the boy from earlier in the bathroom. Dannys voice begins to narrate the scene. Danny says, Before Derek went to jail, the white kids didnt have to be afraid of the black kids. Derek made it safe. 1The next scenes are flashbacks explaining Dereks journey from a suburban white teenager to a vengeance-seekin g white supremacist. Derek had already been influenced by his fathers critical views on African American close and affirmative action (which his father refers to it as affirmative black-tion), and also how he doesnt trust two African-Americans on his squad who scored lower on a hiring probe than two whites. He believes they were hired as a result of affirmative action in order to meet racial quotas.