I flipped the channel of my television and there was actor Spencer Tracy in a movie. After watching for a few minutes it dawned on me the movie BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK ( 1955 ) surely contained lots of drama. Part of the movie review read :"This powerful suspense drama also yields a grim social message." Spencer Tracy is a one armed man World War II veteran who comes into town and uncovers a secret; town folk have allowed racial prejudice against Japanese ( WWII ) to cause a murder.
For me the themes of prejudice, denial of the incident by decent people, fear, wanting to fit in and finally acting against the racism are prominent. Then something crept into my thinking about Connecticut Juvenile Training School in Middletown, CT. CJTS administrators in many respects are like those people at Black Rock; full of bias or animosity against employees who are different. In the past several years employees ( i.e. those of color ) complained about unfair treatment. In their own method management got rid of employees deemed troubling- by using policy & procedure - to decent folks ( read white management ). Like in the movie there are CJTS employees afraid to speakup or standout in any manner due to possible retaliation. However five employees at CJTS did confront racial animus; filing a class action lawsuit, testifying at public hearings abouut CJTS racism, etc. In the movie three people helped Spencer Tracy to finally end the terror in Black Rock. At this juncture only a few souls dare speak openly about the long night of terror ( aimed at employees ) within CJTS plantation grounds.
It took a couple hours in the movie for Tracy et al. to overcome bigots, that is Hollywood for you. In reality the fight against employee bias might at the CJTS could take years for results to be manifest. Well one thing is certain, if you never begin a quest to eradicate evil -- nothing changes.
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