Cultural Genocide: The Movie

The film “Cultural Genocide” presented Asa Hilliard III, an African American professor of educational psychology, who focused on the particularities of genocide, homicide and suicide. According to Hilliard, he recalls genocide as any one of the following acts with the attempt to destroy a national, ethnic, religious or racial group; few examples include killing members of a group, causing bodily harm and forcibly transferring children to another group.

Cultural genocide is best explained with examples, whereas indirect instances may include any prevention from practicing one’s culture or where one loses their sense of culture and a direct example is black on black killings. Homicide is an important issue Hilliard expresses, as there are many murders and bodily harm induced by African Americans towards other African Americans. Homicide not only includes lethal killings, but terminal illnesses as well, such as AIDS.AIDS is detrimental to any group, as it is can be carelessly transmitted to others, due to lack of awareness of their illness; however, it causes much damage to groups since it is being passed along, terminally harming individuals. There are many illnesses and murders that can definitely be avoided among African Americans, but they continue to be inflicted by harm, whether it is consciously or unconscious. In order to avoid such conflict, Hilliard suggests that African Americans need to be in touch with their cultural identity, he offers that it is a tie that binds a culture together, which calls for possible collaboration.Collaboration brings a sense of identity and teamwork to a culture, specifically as it allows a group to function, even when passing national boundaries, as well as individually.

With African Americans having better cultural identity, there is a possibility that black on black crime will decrease, as many will view each other as their “brothers and sisters”. If young African Americans viewed each other as family, they will most definitely treat each other with more respect and dignity, as the young will avoid physical harm among one another, which will deter crime.Nevertheless, the importance of cultural ties can link to relations among African Americans and more importantly, deter black on black crime. Black on black crime is not limited to only murders, but also within an extraordinary example, in which Hilliard presents regarding teachers in the classrooms and black communities. In predominantly African American classrooms, educators have struggled to find teachers, specifically African American teachers. Educators believe it is vital to have African American teachers, in order for the predominantly black students to perceive their own race as a role model.Having only European teachers be the majority may cause more racial gaps, but is it important to realize that educators did in fact try to employ African American teachers; however, they simply denied the employment opportunity, as they believed there was no potential for growth or promotion.

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This example is no doubt causing harm among African Americans, children are not seeing their own race in the education field, causing much destruction, as potential dreams of being an educator can be damaged, as hope for their own race is non-existent.If there were more African American teachers in predominantly black schools, there is more potential for black children to see themselves as being a teacher. There are many ways to encourage children to strive for education, role models are definitely one of them and now that there is a black president in office, he serves as an icon for the African American community, as well as representing a change among racial gaps. Although a drastic change happened in the White house, it is important to remember the educational inconsistency among African American students.Many African American students still suffer many disparities among their school, including the lack of funds, which ultimately the youth endures the burden of having insufficient supplies for learning. Education is becoming severely limited for African American students, as there is a shortage of educational supplies necessary for learning, including books and even teachers. If African American teachers do not want to teach their own race, because of individual concerns of upward mobility, there is much damage imposed on African American children.

In order to succeed and move forward, African Americans need to remember their cultural ties and stand together. It is reality that there is an educational gap, where certain races are inclined to being economically despaired; therefore, African Americans need to remember the importance of their cultural ties, which will not only bring them together but also, help each individual succeed. Suicide is mentioned in Hilliard’s speech because of its increasing rate of deaths in the African American community.Hilliard announces it is the leading cause of death for African American men and in fact, more die from suicide than homicide. Women, too, are impacted by suicide, as they carry more attempts to kill themselves than men do. Suicide may have been caused by the lack of belonging to something, many came from broken families and did not have a sense of community, which caused the creation of gangs, where the youth seeks familial ties and sense of belonging, in order to make up for the lack of a family.There is definitely a pattern of why many African Americans suffer and it is due to the lack of cultural identity, many have no clue where they come from and it is indeed causing much destruction.

Many African Americans feel they do not belong to anything, as they lack a family, which in turn, leads them to feeling worthless, causing identity loss and thoughts of suicide. In order to make sure no other African American children feel the sense of unworthiness, there must be more collectiveness and collaboration to help overcome upcoming generations and prevent them from feeling unworthy.Many can begin by joining community groups, religious groups, or sporting activities, just to give the initial feeling of belonging to a population, this can therefore, boost self-esteem and bring identity to one’s life. The African American community must work collectively and they are definitely at a good start, as President Obama can help many of his black “brothers and sisters” conquer racial and economic disparities.

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