"They want us to kill ourselves"

Published by Axel Saltini 25/10 – 2 min reading

"They want us to kill ourselves." This quote, from the movie "Boyz N The Hood", is one of the main lines in John Singleton's film. Racism and violence are the two main themes of this movie, and this line reflects them wonderfully.

A memorable scene

In the scene, the main character's father explains that in poor neighbourhoods, white people want black people to destroy themselves. To him, it’s without a doubt because of the easy access to alcohol and guns on every street corner, which drive people to be violent.

To him, it's a way of weakening the black community without necessarily discriminating against it openly, even if some people don't hide it.

Unjustified police violence is everywhere and in no way reflects justice. In this environment, innocents do not exist.

A battle that must be waged

So, how do we solve this problem? According to the father of Tre, the main character, the answer is obvious. The black community needs to stick together and move forward together.

If the system encourages internal conflict, we must do everything we can to avoid sinking into gang violence, revenge, and alcoholism. These are the values that Tre learns from his father, and that help him evolve as a black man.

The message

This line perfectly demonstrates the film's themes and what made it such a success.

It's scary to want to challenge the system and turn a blind eye to the horrors that are committed by gangs, but it's the only way to move things forward. The black community must unite and stop destroying itself, it must break the circle of violence that is killing them.

It's a moral that is presented at the end of "Boyz N The Hood", with a tragic finale that shows the difficulty of overcoming gang violence, but rewards those who have known how to challenge society.