Set it off movie research

However, a culture that is brought about by racial discrimination has given birth to such a group of people. In this paper, I will argue that the film ‘Set It Off’ displays how the black women are often left with the burden of providing for themselves and their loved ones due to economic disparities in black and brown communities. I will incorporate critical race theory and the black feminist theory to back this claim. Literature Review About one in every seven Americans is an African or a black American. African Americans are the third biggest ethnic or racial group in the country. Africans, because of the racial discriminatory culture that so prevails in America, are not offered office jobs so often.

There is a notion in the country that Africans are not intellectually smart, and so they are not readily offered official jobs (Krieger et al, 2011). This then implies that since the men are more muscular than the women, there will be more opportunities for the men to secure jobs compared to the women. It therefore becomes worse when a woman is the expected breadwinner in such a situation. The circumstance becomes so overwhelming that they end up giving up in life and losing hope. 1% of the families with children from the white homes. In addition, about 47% of the families which are headed by a single black mother are living below the poverty line (Piazza, 2011). When such mothers are left to provide for their children and themselves, the burden is most of the time overwhelming, and they end up giving up in life and this is one of the reasons why they start taking part in immoral acts such as prostitution, alcoholism and such things.

Poverty together with a burden to provide for a family results in desperation where someone can choose to do anything for their survival. This is especially the case with the black families in America. The implication of this is that the best jobs that are associated with education will mostly be secured by the whites, leaving the African Americans without jobs or with low paying jobs, hence raising their poverty calamity. The people who have college education most of the time earn higher and attain quite good jobs compared to the people who have no education beyond secondary school. The Africa Americans mostly tend to attain education only to a level below the high school education (Brewer, 2016). The likelihood of black Americans to attain a college degree is lower.

About 21% of the African Americans in the ages 25 to 29 have completed 4 years of college education relative to about 41 percent of the whites within that same age. The African Americans are employed by the whites in order to take care of their children when their parents are at work. Other small duties such as cleaning of the houses, washing of clothes, cleaning the compound and taking care of poultry are left in the hands of the black women. Therefore, the black women are very vital in the households. No one wants to leave a black woman to go and be independent because that would mean losing a helping hand. Another factor that makes the black women so crucial is the fact that the whites are educated and employed, and they would not go low to perform simple and casual jobs such as cleaning of houses and compound.

However, there is a concrete evidence that has been in place over a long time showing vividly that there is existence of systemic racism. Historically, the blacks were prevented from accumulating wealth through slavery. Some government policies such as Homestead Act, Social Security Act and Chinese exclusion Act were all aimed at excluding the colored people (Ford & Airhihenbuwa, 2010). This was the genesis of poverty issues among the blacks, especially black women. Statistics on household incomes show a very comprehensive account of the prevailing economic resources which are available to the households. S. are usually biased against the colored people especially the black Americans (Delgado & Stefancic, 2017). Black Feminist Theory Consciousness of black feminist is rooted in comprehending the intersecting patterns created by discrimination.

If gender and race are considered separately, then it will be difficult to offer an explanation of how attitudes could change due to the cross-pressures which are meant to bring down the black women’s interests in order to offer protection to the black men (Crenshaw, 2018). This theory argues that life of being a black woman together with its experience can’t be comprehended just by considering it in terms of being a woman or being black. The black feminist theory and the critical race theory support this claim. According to critical race theory, race is created by social and economic factors instead of natural and biological grounds (Delgado & Stefancic, 2017). At the opening of the film, we see two people who have come from the same background or environment but whose lives have taken totally different paths.

Frankie is bank’s teller while Darnell is a member of an armed gang. As Darnell and the gang comes to rob the bank, Frankie recognizes him and because of that she is fired being suspected of knowing the gang members. This film shows more awareness of the economic crises facing the characters, the black women. It also reveals anger resulting from unemployment. One of the wonderful scenes is where the women actually sit on a rooftop observing a factory and looking wistfully. Before these women began laying off people, it was costing them $15 per hour to sit on that smoking pot. Such women are unable to sustain their households together while earning the minimum pay. The theory is also evident at the point where the banker to Stony brings her to a black-tie banquet and she states that that was the best night in her life.

Another scene also is where these four women hold a session of planning within a certain coffee shop but they realize that they have no sufficient money to cater for the bills. They then sneak out and stiff the waitress. Actually, the waitress and the social worker are blacks. Therefore this film is not just on overt racism. R. , & Pamuk, E. Socioeconomic disparities in health in the United States: what the patterns tell us. American journal of public health, 100(S1), S186-S196. Brewer, R. Critical race theory: An introduction. NYU Press. Ford, C. L. , & Airhihenbuwa, C. Racial discrimination, psychological distress, and self-rated health among US-born and foreign- born Black Americans. American journal of public health, 101(9), 1704-1713. Piazza, J. A. Poverty, minority economic discrimination, and domestic terrorism.