We’ve all been there before. You see a movie with intense racism and/or racial violence, and while discussing the movie later, you joke — well, hopefully just joke — about how it made you hate White people. Of course, you don’t hate White people. You might have even shared that comment with a White friend or coworker, who might have also expressed that the movie made them hate White people too. But while it doesn’t cultivate much animus for individual White people — you’re still cool with the White people you were already cool with — those types of experiences have a tendency to make you think about and hate the concept of Whiteness — both socially and politically — and how it has been a perpetual and intentional source of animus for Blackness.
Basically, the worst type of movie to watch this weekend if you want to stay sane at the office.
Anyway, while there are dozens of movies that can inspire that type of anger, a few stand a bit above the rest.
Betrayed
Scene you should really, really, really, really try to avoid watching: Betrayed is a very 80s 80's movie starring Tom Berenger and Debra Winger making Debra Winger faces. If you haven’t seen it before, you probably never will because it never, never, ever, ever, ever comes on cable. But, if it does happen to come on cable one night and you don’t want to go to work the next day wanting to go in the break room and break each of your White co-worker’s Pop Tarts, skip the scene where Berenger and his group of White supremacist buddies go “hunting.”
A Time to Kill
Scene you should really, really, really, really try to avoid watching: Anyone who’s seen this movie knows exactly which scene I’m going to name. And because you know exactly which scene I’m going to name, I’m not going to name it. You just know.
Fruitvale Station
Scene you should really, really, really, really try to avoid watching: I’ve seen thousands of movies. Which means I’ve seen thousands of death scenes. And none affected me the way Oscar Grant’s death did. It just felt so…real. Even more real than I expected it to be. And…yea, just don’t watch this entire fucking movie.
Amistad
Scene you should really, really, really, really try to avoid watching: Again, anyone who’s seen this movie knows exactly which scene I’m going to name. And because you know exactly which scene I’m going to name, I’m not going to name it. You just know.
Roots
Scene you should really, really, really, really try to avoid watching: Ok, I have a confession to make. Before I started writing this, I had a pretty good idea of which movies I was going to list and which scenes I’d use. One of those scenes was when Kunta was whipped into submitting to his slave name.
But, after rewatching it, it…how do I say this? It’s been parodied so many times — by Chappelle, Key & Peele, etc — that it just doesn’t have the same effect now. Still, even though it might not make you mad — and you might be too distracted by Lou Gossett Jr’s blinking to feel anything but confused — just avoid watching it out of principle.
Do the Right Thing
Scene you should really, really, really, really try to avoid watching: Two words: Radio Raheem. Chokehold. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know that was three words. But Radio Raheem is dead. So fuck your word counts.
12 Years a Slave
Scene you should really, really, really, really try to avoid watching: Choosing the most hard to watch scene in this movie is like choosing the best Big Sean feature. Because even thinking about this question too long will give you the brain gout. Still, in my opinion, nothing’s more infuriating than the scene where Epps wakes them up in the middle of the night to dance and sing, and Epps’ jealous wife hurls a bottle of brown liquor at Patsey’s head.
Rosewood
Scene you should really, really, really, really try to avoid watching: It would be better for everyone if you just avoided the entire last 80 minutes. Turn off your TV and do some push-ups and eat a granola bar or something.