Reaction to documentary on modern-day nazis

I was shocked by the people I saw on this BBC documentary, I could not believe how racist they were and the fact that they thought this to be normal made it even more shocking. I find it somewhat disturbing that these people's children were being brought up in this manner, to believe black's were all bad, without a say in the matter of whether or not they wanted to be nazis (as they did not know any better). The one woman who kept her children home-schooled and taught them to sing extremely racist, 'White power' songs shocked me greatly when she said she would disown her daughters completely if they got a black boyfriend. I personally do not think that blacks should be looked down upon, I think of them as equals with as much right to live safely and unjudged in this world as I have. Just because someone is not of the Aryan race does not make them any less of a person than someone who does have blonde hair and blue eyes as this is not the perfect race. We are all the same in this world, and I find it horrible that some people believe otherwise and think coloured people are not worthy of living life freely. I also find it disturbing that some of the people interviewed did not care if they offended black people, they hung pro nazi flags and posters, attended 'White' concerts and allowed their children to play computer games where they shot black people. The worst thing to happen in this world for these people is if a black or Jew comes onto their property, and if that did happen they were unashamed to say they would beat them up and throw them out. They seem proud to call themselves nazis, and freely describe themselves to be racist. This documentary really opened my eyes to the horror that it hiding in this world.

'Strange Fruit' static image

Author's purpose in poem 'Strange Fruit'

Through this poem we see the author attempting to raise awareness about this issue of inequality and injustice as 'blacks' are continually lynched for no reason other than the fact they are different. It is essentially a protest poem, created to shock the reader and highlight the horror of this era. We see visceral imagery used in order to increase the shock value of the poem, by making the reader feel physically sick at the grotesque images described. An example of this is found in Stanza 2- "the sudden smell of burning flesh!" He uses an extended metaphor of "strange fruit" to describe the hanged black men, which conveys the idea of them being unnatural and the fact that they should not be there (this type of thing should not be happening or allowed). The juxtaposition of positive and negative imagery (e.g. "scent of magnolia" against "bulging eyes") also highlights this idea that the hanging bodies do not belong, and should not be put up with. It is entirely against the racism and lynching of that time, using bold images and diction in order to shock and horror the audience.

How Blacks were treated in the Southern States of America.

From the poem 'Strange Fruit' and clips from the film 'Mississippi Burning' I have learnt that back in the early 1900s black people were greatly mistreated. Segregations were put into action, separating the blacks from whites, and anti-black and Jew groups such as the Ku Klux Klan were established. These groups beat and even lynched blacks from minor reasons or for no reason at all. This is unfair, racist, horrible and shows the inequality of this time. In the poem I realised that hanging blacks was commonplace, which makes the act even worse.