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Remember the Titans
Over the weekend I rented and watched the movie Remember the Titans. Although it is not the first time I have watched the movie it was the first time I sat down to look for historical significance over pure enjoyment. The movie is about T.C. Williams high school in Alexandria, VA which was federally mandated to integrate in 1971 . The movie follows the schools football team from summer preseason into the fall with the state championships. In the beginning of the movie Coach Yoates, the white head coach, was replaced by Coach Boone, the newly appointed head coach of the Titans. At first the white players were in an uproar over the change from Yoates to the new “Coach Coon”, which was what the white players and parents called Coach Boone at first.
When Coach Boone took control of the team he immediately forced integration between white players and black players by making them exit their segregated busses and making them ride on a bus for offensive players and another for defensive players regardless of color. At the camp players were assigned roommates of different color in an attempt to make the two groups into one team. An assignment Coach Boone gave the players was to learn something about everyone of a different color. Both whites and blacks resisted the integration until they realized that until they began to work in unison as a team they would be punished on the field by the coaching staff. Slowly but surely the group of individuals became a team through sweat, blood and tears they shared on the practice field. When the camp concluded both white and black players worked together and formed bonds of friendship that would soon be tested when they would return to Alexandria and their High School.
When the players returned to town they reentered a world of segregation and hatred. Players faced ridicule from citizens and students who were not on the team. Gary Bertier, a white linebacker, even had his girlfriend turn her back on him for befriending Julius, his teammate who happened to be black. One night on the town a small group of Titans consisting of both blacks and whites entered a small dinner to get a bite to eat and were starred down and turned around by the restaurants management. This example of racism in the community shows that even though the young players became brothers on the field did not mean that their bonds would be equally appreciated by the eyes of the town. Even through the blatant discrimination from the town members you watch the team and coaching staff establish friendships and relationships over the course of the movie. Even Coach Boone and Coach Yoates became good friends and end up introducing their daughters to one another which turns into a friendship. As the season progressed the success of the Titans began to affect the town in a positive manner changing the towns attitude towards blacks and whites playing side by side on the field. In one scene you see the town celebrating a victory by throwing a rally as the team exited the busses after a win. In the End the T.C. Williams