Always Do the Right Thing

In the novel Native Son, Richard Wright explores the complex relationship between whites and blacks in the 1930s. The majority of the white race were racially opposed to those of the black race, while some few chose to defy the social norms and side with the blacks. Despite these few individuals, many people of the white race chose to uphold stereotypes involving blacks that were not necessarily true. These individuals further acted upon these stereotypes. For example, following the discovery of the murder of Mary Dalton committed by Bigger, a poor black boy living in Chicago, many whites fired the black men and women that they had working for them because they were afraid of what actions they might take. They stereotyped all black people as being murders, solely because of the actions Bigger took. In "How Big Was Born", Wright took the time to explain the in depth process of how he created the main character of this novel. Wright further explores and criticizes the variety of stereotypes looming around the black population, and how at times, they are inescapable. This movie includes a variety of different stereotypes involving both whites and blacks. In the end, it was the black man that was being arrested and killed by the white police officer because of a disruptive action taken against a white man. It was the white Italian man who acted as though he were superior to those of the black race. It was the black man that demanded change on the wall of a restaurant and it was the white man that said no. It was the black man that burned down a restaurant and it was the white man that shot him down with the water from a hose. All of these stereotypes were present in the movie, and similarly enough, Wright believed that these, among many other, existed in society at the time he wrote his novel. The many different characters of this movie seemed to me to be quite complex and somewhat two-sided at times. Sal was a white Italian man that owned a pizza shop that employed a black man and that fed black people. When first introduced to Sal, I thought he was a decent person in that he did not serve or employ individuals solely based on the color of their skin. However, the way in which he treated Radio Raheem was not necessarily appropriate. When Radio Raheem came into the pizza shop with his music blaring, I do not think it was necessary for Sal to start blaring out discriminatory words or go into the back of the shop and get a baseball bat. Mookie was another character in this movie that was relatively two-sided. He pulled Vito aside and told him that he should do the right thing. Ironically, Mookie was the one who emptied a garbage can and threw it at the window of the pizza shop at which he had been generously employed. In my opinion, Mookie's action was completely unnecessary, and I am quite angry that he threw the garbage can. I truly feel bad that such hateful action was taken by the community towards the pizza shop. I do not think that Sal's actions towards Radio Raheem deserved such hate in return. Looking back at this scene of the movie, I am beginning to believe that the black people crowding around the pizza shop were actually angry at the white police officers that murdered Radio Raheem, rather than being made at Sal for breaking Radio Raheem's radio. I strongly believe that these black individuals let out their anger and rage towards the wrong person and place. Despite my obvious disappointment of the death of Radio Raheem, I do not believe that he did the "right thing" by walking into the pizza shop with his radio on high volume after Sal had already told him to turn it down. I understand the message Radio Raheem was trying to send, but he did it in a rude and relatively obnoxious way. At one point or another, most of the characters included in this movie did do the "right thing", while at other times, they took actions that were, in my opinion, not all necessary.