Conflict Perspective In 'Get On The Bus'

Conflict in America
I did not experience the 1960's when this movie was published; however, I have been exposed to some conflicts that have challenged my morals and values that were instilled in me as a Caucasian American growing up in a middle class home. During the last few years, our country has been riddled with much racial, religious, and ethical tension. Some might even argue that the race relations haven’t been this bad since the 1960’s and 1970’s. It’s time for American to again, take a hard stance on conflict in our country and address these issues head on. For my paper we will be looking at conflict perspective. Per our book conflict perspective is a sociological paradigm that focuses on the competition that exists between groups (racial/ethnic groups, tribes, social classes, genders, age groups) in any given society (Palmiotto and Unnithan). Conflict perspective is used in the movie Get on the Bus as they openly address the issues concerning race relations in America on a cross-country bus trip to the Million Man

One person said that no matter what a judge said he would never handcuff his kids. Rick said “Black men, white men, they are all the same to me, I like to think of myself as colorblind. We are all brothers under the skin right? My parents were in the civil rights movement and we had black people over at the house all the time. I do not see black people marching for others. Don’t blame whites for things that were other white people’s faults (Davis, Dutton and Braugher).” The comments from Rick in this scene did not go over very well with the other men on this bus; however, Gary said “Just because a person is white does not mean I dislike them, just because a person is black does not mean I like them (Davis, Dutton and Braugher).” It makes me wonder if more people had the attitude of Gary we might not be seeing the conflicts with race we are currently