Blog Post - Mississippi Burning

Reflect on the phrase, 'Anyone is guilty who watches this and does nothing'. What have you done when you have seen people being discriminated against? What more can you do the next time you witness discrimination taking place?


The phrase "Anyone is guilty who watches this and does nothing" is especially applicable to this film, "Mississippi Burning". In the story, we can say that not all of the whites were discriminating the blacks; at most to the point where they just ignore them entirely. However, this people are also guilty in not standing up for the right values that blacks should not mistreated by the whites. Some examples would be the supposedly "unprejudiced" police force of the town. When they saw that a black was being dragged into a car and beaten up, all they did was close one eye and acted as though it never happened.

When I see others being discriminated against, I have the same thought in mind as what those police in Mississippi Burning would do; "close and eye and avoid trouble unless necessary". I do understand that this form of thinking is a very selfish thought, only caring about yourself and not willing to spare a thought for others, especially the one being discriminated. However, seeing how these innocent people were being lynched in Mississippi Burning, I feel that someone must initiate and step up to defend this poor people like how the FBI agents were helping the blacks in the town. As such, next time, upon encountering situations of discrimination, I would first try my best to break the argument up. If all does not work, I would inform a teacher of this incident for him / her to take over.