Two decades ago, American History X brought to life the ugly realities of white supremacy. Never before had moviegoers seen the horrifying minutiae of Neo-Nazi skinhead culture –– flowing blood and cracking bone, the hypocrisy, the devotion to hate, the difficult journey of leaving hate for good. It was billed as a “message” picture that showed how adherents to this horrifying ideology might leave that life behind. That they might even work toward redemption.
Today, the hate that American History X tried to explore as a cautionary tale of sorts is part of establishment political discourse. The film deeply underestimated the extent to which hate can infect, spread, and achieve widespread influence in American culture. That underestimation reflects our current ignorance of the origins of hate, of how hate can be combated, and suggests that greater awareness might ease its grip on our society.
“I don’t think anyone watching American History X in the nineties thought its white supremacist characters would ever become mainstream,” says Heidi Beirich, director of the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center. “In the nineties, these views were way outside the mainstream. Today, some of them are being echoed from the White House.”
The film depicts a young skinhead (played by Edward Furlong) analyzing and interpreting the events surrounding the incarceration of his older brother for voluntary manslaughter. The latter, however, leaves prison ready to abandon white supremacy for a life free of hate. The result overflows with racist rhetoric that reflects statements made by President Donald Trump himself.
The following, for instance, is from a speech shouted by Derek Vinyard (Edward Norton, in an Academy Award-nominated role) to his Neo-Nazi cohort prior to assaulting the non-white employees of a grocery store: "Our border policy's a joke! So, is anybody surprised that south of the border they're laughing at us? Laughing at our laws?” The idea of foreigners wantonly “laughing” at America’s immigration laws is a metaphor Trump has used for years. On July 30, Trump tweeted: “Illegal immigration is a top National Security problem. After decades of playing games, with the whole World laughing at the stupidity of our immigration laws…” The tweet goes on to suggest that the Democrats are conspiring to undermine America’s immigration system.
The laughter is gone from this discourse as the president, his advisors, and his allies have shifted to more militant language. Referring to the Migrant Caravan traveling north from Central America, Trump tweeted “This is an invasion of our Country and our Military is waiting for you!” Trump has followed-up his venomous bluster against these migrants, in particular, by ordering the Pentagon to send up to 14,000 troops to the US-Mexico border as well as threatening to eliminate birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution.
In another scene, Danny Vinyard (Furlong) recalls how he idolized his older brother Derek for successfully driving people of color away from public spaces in Venice Beach, saying in voiceover, “For a while, he really made it like it was ours again.” Returning our supposedly broken social systems to some former glory is a core tenet of Trumpism, and the current iteration of America’s conservative movement. Danny’s sentiment, that Venice Beach was ours again, is merely a localized version of Trump’s perennial rallying cry to Make America Great Again.
Folks in the nineties understood American History X as a product of domestic terrorism. The film, in part, captured the public’s fear and fascination with militant white supremacist groups following the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing orchestrated by Timothy McVeigh. The attack killed 168 people, the most destructive terrorist event on American soil until 9/11. Communities across the country feared that theirs would become the next target in an unfolding reign of terror aimed at establishing a white ethnostate.
Groups like Life After Hate believe that Sweeney’s approach of outreach, dialogue, and compassion is the surest way to end hateful tendencies. This can become problematic, since the burden of educating and reforming white racists can fall to black and non-black people of color. By this accord, Sweeney encapsulates the trope of the “Magical Negro,” tasked with variously solving the problems of white protagonists and absolving them of their racial biases.
Even so, Meeink believes that openness and the willingness to find common ground offer the best opportunity for changing the minds and hearts of white supremacists.
Meeink says, “When I talk to people about leaving these thoughts behind, we don’t even start out talking about their beliefs. I talk about life. It’s just about looking at your life and wondering if it’s where you’re meant to be.”
Major media outlets have struggled alongside many in the general public with how to talk about white supremacy. The New York Times, for example, received a swarm of critiques for a piece published that many believe pandered in bothsidesism regarding the rhetoric that inspired the MAGAbomber. It seems like every news cycle makes these groups an increasingly prominent part of the national discourse. People want a way to discuss and investigate what that means for the culture at large, but the violence inherent to white supremacy nullifies our capacity for focusing on anything outside its bountiful brutality.
Twenty years since it’s release, American History X could be a way for our culture to interact with this pervasive and complex issue. Through it, we can better understand both the need to hold white supremacists accountable for their actions, as Sweeney does for Derek, and invite them to embrace a life of love, as Derek does for Danny. It represents one of our few cultural touchstones documenting white supremacy. Its viewers can better understand just how deeply-rooted this problem is, and why it cannot be allowed to grow unabated.
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*Gavin McInnes was a co-founder of Vice Media. He left the company in 2008 and has had no involvement since then. He founded The Proud Boys organization in 2016.
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