Police brutality has been a recent rising topic in today’s society. Black people and other minorities are being killed for no specific reason. The color of their skin automatically seems to make them threatening. By wearing darker clothing, they are often looked as sketchy or suspicious. Police officers who are present in certain situations tend to feel scared or threatened. In the film, “Blade,” directed by Stephen Norrington, cleverly creates scenes that relate to problems in the real world. In this particular scene, it seems like the police officers are just misinterpreting the situation, but it’s really about the inferential racism that people in power, specifically police officers, have towards blacks and other minorities.
This scene took place towards the beginning of the film. It was set in the hospital. The vampire woke up and started killing the faculty. Blade entered into the scene to kill off the vampire and stop him from further harming the humans. As he was fighting the vampire, the police officers burst in and aimed their guns at Blade. Blade slowly starts to turn around and the police officers immediately shoot at him, causing the vampire to escape (Blade).
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He uses the terms “overt racism” and “inferential racism” to describe how racism is still present in today’s culture (Omi 112). He defines inferential racism as “naturalized representations of events and situations relating to race” (Omi 113). These are the assumptions that people have towards others of different races. The use of the term “naturalized” in this context means to conform into reality. Paired with the term “representations,” means that humans create false ideas about certain things and these ideas slowly become a part of their reality and others. Stereotypes are in this category, because people absorb these thoughts through their peers and through the media without