Introduction
How a film may reveal different perspectives on an important social issue may be seen in examining 1988’s Mississippi Burning. In this movie, the actual event of three civil rights workers murdered in 1964 sets the stage for the intervention of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), as the justice system in the South of that era was greatly biased by long traditions of racism. The film is not an exact account of the actual story, yet it nonetheless serves to illustrate a crucial period in which federal powers were deemed necessary to carry out justice due to the mentioned bias in place. Clearly, this scenario involves multiple elements, including: the overt racism as ongoing in the South; how this racism infused the Southern criminal justice system; the dimensions and issues of federal intervention at this level; and the repercussion afterward. In the paper, all these elements will be examined, and the central component of the film as representing them will be the foundation for the structure. This will be summarized in the thesis statement, as may be noted in the conclusion section of the outline.
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"Mississippi Burning as Illustrating How Racism in the South Violated the Law".
The Film, Primary Issues Raised
In this section will be a brief discussion of the film itself, relating the story as it reflects the real experiences it interprets. There will be a minimal addressing of the film’s impact, as this goes to how its themes apply to American society then and today, and the filmmakers agenda will be briefly discussed for the same reason. It will be emphasized that the main intent was to draw attention to racism beyond the particular incident and time in question (Graham, 2003, p. 151). Concluding this will be a statement defining the central points made in the film.
Existing Realities of Racism
In this section the underlying realities of racism in the South, and as consistently in place since the Civil War, will be examined. The social and political presence and influence of the Klu Klux Klan will be addressed, as this was and remains a potent expression of ingrained racism. If the KKK is still a force representing racism, and in a way influencing Southern legislature and criminal justice response, it will be emphasized how much more impactful the organization was in the earlier years of the 20th century (Bonilla-Silva, 2001, p. 118). This in turn will be examined as enabling something of a social order in which racism was, not an aberration or injustice, but a foundational element in the South. Then, there will be discussion of this social order as originating in the more generalized conflicts existing between North and South before the Civil War.
More exactly, the Southern racism at the heart of Mississippi burning is by no means a random aspect of the society, but a focused form of deep-seated, regional conflict. The decades of consistent racial oppression will be traced, as Southern blacks were invariably constrained by the combination of social, economic, and political white dominance (Bonilla-Silva, 2001, p. 91). As this section is presented, it will be seen that the violence of the film’s story was in effect virtually an inevitability, just as the need for the FBI to step in and countermand the local jurisdictions was as well.
Governmental Responses
This part of the paper will note how the government variously addressed, or failed to address, injustices within the criminal justice system based on racist beliefs and/or laws. The FBI’s role in all of this is of particular interest, as longtime Director J. Edgar Hoover notoriously and overtly opposed the Civil Rights efforts of the era. That Hoover actively sought to defame Martin Luther King, Jr., will be discussed (Grant, 1993, p. 424), as this also highlights the changes occurring shortly within the FBI itself, and as necessary responses to the nation’s growing focus on Civil Rights. It will be seen that, even as racism exerted something of a stranglehold on Southern justice, pressures to properly address this were growing nationally, and to an extent requiring federal jurisdiction eclipsing regional authorities (Belknap, 1995, p. xix). In essence, the twin trajectories of Civil Rights as reshaping the social order and the national insistence on equality within the law, as supported by the government, will be explored.
Legacy of the Interventions
Here, there will be a necessary and brief reexamination of the film’s impact and veracity, with evidence of how it both truthfully conveyed the reality of the time and altered it for dramatic purposes, and in ways perceived as not actually serving racial concerns (Toplin, 1996, p. 37). This will be followed by a discussion of how racism is perceived as still permeating the criminal justice system today. Several modern cases reflecting this controversy will be presented by way of illustrating progress, or the lack thereof, in instituting justice regardless of race.
Conclusion
Lastly, there will be an overview of the paper’s main points and issues, restating and offering other perspectives of them. It will be reinforced that Mississippi Burning, if not wholly accurate, serves as an important example of how a popular film may valuably trigger social response and a new interest in critical issues. The conclusion will end with a restatement of the thesis, to the effect that Mississippi Burning powerfully illustrates how racism was permitted to take a shape so dominant in Southern culture, the direct intervention of the FBI was necessary to enact justice.
- Belknap, M. R. (1995). Federal Law and Southern Order: Racial Violence and Constitutional Conflict in the Post-Brown South. Athens: University of Georgia Press.
- Bonilla-Silva, E. (2001). White Supremacy and Racism in the Post-Civil Rights Era. Boulder: Lynne Reinner Publishers, Inc.
- Graham, A. (2003). Framing the South: Hollywood, Television, and Race During the Civil Rights Struggle. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
- Grant, D. L. (1993). The Way It Was in the South: The Black Experience in Georgia. Athens: University of Georgia Press.
- Toplin, R. B. (1996). History by Hollywood: The Use and Abuse of the American Past. Champaign: University of Illinois Press.
