Mississippi Burning

Following a report on 3 missing persons, special agent Ward and Mr. Anderson arrive to the small town of Mississippi to carry out an investigation. The first scene of the movie had already revealed that it was the doing of the Deputy Sheriff, and other officers but it was interesting to watch how they dealt with the press, how they denied any suspicion towards them and how they still proceeded with their cruel deeds despite the presence of two influential figures. Ward came across to me as the kind of agent that did everything by the book, followed a systematic approach, and took the law very seriously. This was proven by the way he would react to Anderson's assertive, hostile and street-savvy methods to acquire information. Although Anderson had numerously pleaded Ward to pack up and leave the town, for he believed no positive outcome would derive from the investigation, Ward's intuition, suspicion and determination only propelled him further to solve the mystery (eg. frenzied and angry townsmen, sheriff's department officers and the council regarding the uncontrollable press , how the hostility towards the blacks doubled since the interference of Ward and Anderson) regardless of how bad situations were getting.

After a series of unfortunate events, namely, the attack of Pell's wife by Pell himself, Ward surrendered the the situation to Anderson and agreed to carry out matters his way. So why abandon all rules and succumb to coercion and  illegal methods to finish the job? It seemed as if they were guided by something on a more personal level. Perhaps the consequences that derived from Pell's wife and Anderson's rendezvous was the last straw and Ward knew that if he didn't agree to let Anderson take matters into his own hands, Anderson's one-man-show would create an even bigger mess. But could their actions be justified? In this case, fighting fire with fire yielded victory for the most part. But maybe in the real world, this might not always be the case.

I liked what Pell's wife said in one of her passing statements about hatred. That it is taught and if you tell it enough times, you grow up believing it. Some of the experiences I have had and witnessed confirms the idea of brain-washing and the teaching of blind hate. It baffles me though, how some people from the same environment are able to seek the truth and question the belief system, whereas some end up just like their teachers.

So why racism? What had the blacks done so wrong to deserve such treatment? Why were they hauled all the way from their motherland, treated as slaves, then later frowned upon for merely being citizens of the population that mistreated them in the first place? How can the constitution brag about freedom for all when blacks were not given the same rights? In the movie, it was mentioned that if the blacks were to be cut, they would shed blood of the same color as the whites. It gave me the notion that in that era, time and place, the blacks were viewed as severely flawed human beings and an error in creation (religiously).

Many theories will explain how the superiority complex plays a role, how the detection of threat can spark such behavior, how the battle for resources is the primary reason behind conflict between in-groups and out-groups, and how anesthetic and biological qualities come to play. But in the movie, the blacks seemed oppressed and voiceless. Why was there still a need to further discriminate, attack and murder? When the press interviewed some of the townsmen, even the "justifications" they provided seemed like it was plucked out of thin air, and contained no sound and concrete rationale. Merely stating that one is deserving for what has come after them is in no way moral and seriously lacks premise. I suppose this is where education and exposure comes into play. If one were to be born and bred in the same place, especially a small town where collectivism is imperative to survival, and there is a lack of exposure to what lies outside familiarity, even the littlest bit of differentiation and distinction among people can be so very apparent. Perhaps that is how segregation became what it was in the movie.

It was horrifying how the leader of the KKK during a press interview stated that they stand against everything and everyone who do not share the same beliefs as them; the Jews, Orientals, the Muslims, the blacks and so on and so forth. It sounded more like "We sort to demolish all who are not us" to me.That was exactly how Hitler thought and taught, and 6 million people met their demise. People cannot choose their family, their race and skin color. But what they can do is be tolerant of one another and respect diversity.

Like Santayana once said, those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.