Buggin' Out Tells Mookie to Term Paper

Mookie's frustrated acts show that violence is sometimes justified as a means of "self-defense," in Malcolm X's words. Bigger did not have access to the words of wisdom of either Malcolm X or Martin Luther King Jr. More importantly, Bigger did not have access to a community of like-minded African-Americans who could sympathize with if not totally condone the use of violence to preserve cultural integrity and pride.

Mookie and Bigger are remarkably similar, proving that little has actually changed for African-Americans in terms of gaining social and political power even after the Civil Rights movement. Richard Wright's novel Native Son illustrates the extent of racial discrimination during the early half of the twentieth century; Spike Lee's movie "Do the Right Thing" reveals the extent of racial discrimination during the latter half of the century. The protagonists in Native Son and "Do the Right Thing" live in different times and therefore the level of discrimination they experience differs. Bigger arguably deals with more pervasive and systematic racism because discrimination against African-Americans was largely condoned; it was practically a way of life in America. For Mookie, racism had at least been superficially outmoded. Mookie's ability to resist violence for longer than Bigger shows that the ideal of equality was more of a possibility during the 1980s than it was during the 1930s. Yet in the end Mookie breaks down just like Bigger does, demonstrating the unfortunate perpetuation of racism in the United States. African-Americans must therefore continue to fight for equality ideally using nonviolent means. When nonviolence fails to yield results then riots and outbursts are the most…