American Son

The movie, “American Son”, involves an interracial couple frustration as they wait at a police station to hear news regarding their missing son who was involved in a routine traffic stop. This movie displays a lot of racial issues. For instance, the officer downplays the incident to the mom who is black. The officer offers little help by providing little information to the mom and continues to ask degrading questions. The officer appears to be treating her son, Jamal, like a criminal or thug rather than the victim because he’s profiling him because of his “Black” name and skin color. However, when Jamal’s dad arrives, who is white, the officer is more cooperative. The movie ends with the tragic news that Jamal was killed by a stray bullet. The social injustice that I observed in this movie was the lack of assistance and cooperation that the mom received during this difficult time by the officer as it seems that African Americans are often profiled and treated like criminals. Do you think the officers were profiling and being racist or do you feel the boys asked for the violence by not cooperating with the patrol officer that pulled them over?

Check out this movie and let me know what you think by leaving me a comment.