Jaclyn Miles

Sabatino Mangini Comp II 8:00am

Research Paper
Introduction
In the movie American History X, one of the main characters, Derek Vineyard,
struggled through many life obstacles but became a better person after overcoming those
obstacles. Derek grew up being surrounded by many social institutions that shaped his
views on life including, his community, his family, and prison.

Social Institution #1 Community

Derek Vineyards community and neighborhood had a very large impact on his life
outcome and his racist views growing up. The neighborhood itself and the people who
resided in the neighborhood influenced Derek to hate anyone who was not a white
protestant. The primary reason for that is because the community consisted of people who
believed that they were better than the blacks and other minorities since they were native
to that town. Derek was to blame for himself going to jail because he decided at an earlier
age that that's how he wanted to live his life, having a hatred for blacks. In Dereks
defense, this is all he knew growing up so it was almost guaranteed that he would keep
the same viewpoints when transforming into adulthood. Growing up in a community with
certain influences of social behavior can have an impact on their outcomes in life (Steele,
2010). According to an article on Rotten Outcomes and How Impoverished
Neighborhoods Influence the Life Trajectories of Children In the United States,
Neighborhoods are social environments where children experience life: presenting risks

and opportunities, offering or withholding resources necessary for success, creating

experiences with and beliefs about social institutions and their representatives, and
providing the ecology in which children develop into adults (2010). In Dereks
experience, he grew up in a community that consisted of gangs and hateful people, both
black and white, which influenced him to become a member of the DOC and have such
hatred towards black people and anyone who was not a white protestant. Steele
mentioned that, Social learning theories of crime suggest that children are more likely to
become juvenile delinquents if they live in a neighborhood that is overly-populated with
gang members, drug dealers, and other criminal mentors (2010).

Social Institution #2 Family

Growing up, Dereks father Denis Vineyard had a huge impact on their family
before he was murdered while on duty as a fireman. One night while the Vineyard family
was sitting down eating dinner, Derek brought up his history teacher, Mr. Sweeney, and
what book they were reading and how he really liked him as a teacher. His father became
very defensive about him liking/having a black teacher and told him,
All this stuff about making everything "equal..." it's not that simple. Now you've
got this book "Native Son." What happened to the other books in the course?
They're not good anymore because Mr. Two Ph.Ds says so? Now you got to trade
great books for black books? Does that make sense? You gotta question these
things, Der. You gotta look at the whole picture. We're talking about books...but
we're also talking about my job. I've got two black guys on my squad now who
got their job over a couple of white guys who actually scored higher on the test.

Does that make sense? Everything's "equal" now, but I've got two guys watching
my back...responsible for my life...who aren't as good. They only got the job
because they were black, not because they were the best. His father made his
views on blacks very clear and I believe that is where Dereks racism originated
from due to the tremendous impact his father had on him (MOVIE Quote DB,
2008).
From this one and only scene of Denis Vineyard, anyone can depict his views on black
people and how his views would influence his sons to believe in the same. (Need
research how parents views are passed to children)

Social Institution #3 Prison

Derek Vineyard was sentenced to prison for three and a half years for involuntary
manslaughter of two black men. He shot and killed the two men after his younger brother,
Danny, caught them breaking into his truck that used to be his fathers. While Derek
served his three and a half year sentence, his whole prospective on race and life took a
drastic change. He made it blatantly obvious that he was racist as soon as he got to prison
by taking off his t-shirt to show his swastika tattoo to the other inmates. He resided with a
white racist group that took him into their group. He was tortured and brutally raped by
the group of white gang members and was no longer wanted in their group because he
dissed them in front of the other inmates. In most cases of male sexual abuse in prisons,
the abuse is between white and black but can still happen between white and white (No
Escape, 2001). According to a website on Male Rape in US Prisons, "The perpetrator

may initially appear to be a friend, even an apparent protector, but will take advantage of
his acquaintance with the victim to intimidate and coerce him into sexual contact" (2001).
Derek worked with a young black male that ended up being the only person he
got along with in the prison, and was the only reason he made it out of prison alive. When
Derek was released, he explained to Danny the reason for his sudden change in racist
views was because of that black man and in turn, Danny and Derek took down all the
Nazi flags/posters in their bedroom because they no longer want to be associated with
that type of lifestyle.

Works Cited
"MOVIE Quote DB."American History X ... Movie Quotes Database. N.p., 2008. Web.
26 Apr. 2015.
"Predators and Victims." No Escape: Male Rape in U.S. Prisons. N.p., 2001. Web. 26
Apr. 2015.
Steele, Paul D. "Rotten Outcomes: How Impoverished Neighborhoods Influence The Life
Trajectories Of Children In The United States." Forum On Public Policy
Online 2010.4 (2010): ERIC. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.