235) by organizing them into groups throughout the film, the movie helped dispel stereotypes by showing the multiculturally diverse struggling with the same problems in the same area.
Although they lived in the same are and struggled with many of the same social problems, the film certainly allowed viewers to see the communication barriers that developed between members of different races. This is especially important for the counselor who wishes to work with the multiculturally diverse. The primary communication barrier was erected between blacks and whites. First, viewers can see this in the school between two educated members of these races. Mr. Murry, Danny's history teacher and a white Jew, confronts African-American principal Dr. Sweeney about the Mein Kampf paper that Danny has written. Mr. Murry is highly offended by the attitudes in the paper, while Dr. Sweeney wants to give Danny another chance. The two have difficulty coming to understand or empathize with the other's decision. Furthermore, communication barriers between blacks and whites are noticed in the teenage environment. A group of black boys beat up a white boy and mumble something about cheating. Danny blows smoke in one of the black boys' faces and insults him, only to be insulted back. Here, a culture of violence is honed. Instead of communicating, all of the boys resorted to blows. Finally, evidence of communication barriers is evident within Derek's white family on the topic of racism. Clearly, Derek did not share his father's view about African-Americans when he first encountered the issue, but instead of talking about it, he let the eventual tragedy that would wrack the family, his father's death, memorialize and expand the views.
Indeed, this event can be categorized as a critical incident in Derek's life. Sitting at his father's table, Derek is speaking about his own multicultural awareness, when his father shoots it down, saying he does not agree with being multiculturally aware. If Derek had been counseled using Collins and Pieterse's (2007) Critical Incident Analysis-Based Training, he may have been able to analyze the event in a way that would not have taken him down the road to racism. Derek's exposure to Mr. Sweeney and Native Son has started him down a journey to multicultural awareness. This would be supported by Collins and Pieterse, who define multicultural awareness as "ongoing engagement in grappling honestly and openly with the multicultural realities of daily life experiences" (17). Derek, however, is unable to complete that ongoing process because of his inability to reconcile the event with his father's opinion. Critical Incident Analysis has four steps that would have greatly benefited Derek in his attempt to analyze what happened between father and son -- Acknowledgement, Confrontation, Reflection, and Commitment. These steps would have encouraged Derek to admit that "something of significance" just occurred, confront his family about it, think about the experience, and "a commitment to maintain a stance of openness around racial/cultural experiences" (Collins and Pieterse 2007, p.19). Had Derek, a young teenager, been counseled to think about that crucial moment within the realm of Critical Incident Analysis, he might not have turned to violence. Thus it is important for counselors to understand the gravity of racist attitudes, especially in young people.
While it may have been the most critical, Derek's experience with his father was not his only critical incident. Instead, he had many more critical incidents that actually furthered his attitude toward multiculturalism and his own multicultural awareness. These incidents include his work with Lamott in the prison laundry, his meetings with Dr. Sweeney, his realization that members of his white power prison gang were dealing drugs...
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