Atiya McGhee

July 21st, 2008

Damon Moreland

America: Melting Pot or Pressure Cooker

Higher Learning Characterization: Remy

The movie Higher Learning takes place on a fictional but realistic college setting of

Columbus University. Utilizing his characters personas, John Singleton, the writer and director

of Higher Learning, displays that the racial segregation and division on the campus was mainly

because it was by a person’s own actions, a personal comfort zone and racial tension between

different ethnicities. It is these three factors of racial segregation that I believe added more

pressure to the pressure cooker and have and will continue to cause the pressure cooker to

explode. Remy, an awkward white character, provides to be the most interesting for he is a

representation of both the melting pot and the pressure cooker ideal (more so pressure cooker).

Remy first off to appears to be this average all American white male who is just trying to

adjust to college life, however throughout the course of the movie he is portrayed differently.

Towards the end of the movie Remy becomes a “skin head” which is a group who believes that

the whites are the superior power and carry pure Aryan blood. After his acceptance into the

group his demeanor changes and his overall interaction with people other than the “skin heads”

becomes negative. Some of the incidents where he encountered racial discrimination are when he

was with his group and they raged an all out fist fight against each other, his interaction with

Malik before and after the murder of Deja. All of which I believe could not have been avoided

given the fact that the blacks and the whites are on the opposite side of the spectrum with each
other and that there has been many previous occasions where the two sides haven’t gotten along

in history.

The fight between the blacks and the “skin heads” is something that can mainly be caused

by racial hatred against each other however within the “skin heads” there is Remy who causes

major trouble between the two groups. Remy has felt a bit timid and scared around the blacks

because they are always willing to use violent means to get their way, and previous to his

acceptance by the skin heads he was always alone and had no group to fight with him. Fudge,

played by Ice Cube, has always disregarded Remy and at the very start of the movie ignores

Remy’s request to end the party so that he could get rest. Surely, that could have been avoided

and the general understanding is that the day before class starts everyone should be able to rest

and rest well, but this doesn’t go for everyone. Second, there is the situation at the white party

where Fudge points at Remy to Dreads and laughs at him. What for I do not know. Both

interactions with Fudge have been negative and it because of Fudge and his own actions, that

Remy felt some sort of animosity between the blacks, Fudge is not the only one to blame though.

The fight between the skin heads and the blacks was just a moment to let off some of the tension

between the two, but once the fight ended with no winner it did a verse affect and created more

tension and animosity.

The scene between Malik and Remy before the killing of Deja, allowed the viewer to

actually hear what may have been going on in the heads of both races during the course of the

movie. Remy views himself now as the supreme race and better than all others and views Malik

as a money and a slave. In Malik’s head he is constantly pondering of what Remy is thinking of

him, and whether Remy views him as a Nig***. I do not believe that Remy honestly believes

that he is of the supreme race nor do I believe that he views Malik as a slave, or at least previous

to entering the skin heads. This is also an example of how the history between the two races is
constantly being brought up. I think it is the skin heads ideals that he has adapted, and he adapts

the ideals because they are the only group that has chosen to accept him. The blacks were

constantly having something negative to say about him and they all stood together. The whites at

the frat party thought he was too weird and awkward. No one wanted to talk with him, everyone

had their own clique. Connecting back to my view that “racial segregation and division on the

campus was mainly because it was by a person’s own actions, a personal comfort zone…” I

believe that not allowing Remy in either the white or black groups despite his attempts to move

towards this melting pot ideal (not literally) caused resentment towards them and made him a bit

socially unstable and more reliant on others. Malik even states in the movie that he felt more

comfortable with his own group of people, and it is this environment of generally the same ideals

or similar cultural understanding that prevents culture diffusion and the assimilation of cultures.

Assimilation and the acceptance of other ethnicities are caused primarily by ones of negative will

to allow it. The reason for Remy’s discomfort is not to be solely blamed on his environment and

the fact that everyone stayed with their own race, but it sure is a major cause. Maybe he didn’t fit

in because he wasn’t a party person and everyone both the blacks and whites had a lot of parties

and social groups. It is possible that he did not fit in with any group because he chose the wrong

times to talk to someone. Both reasons are valid and can explain why he may be viewed as weird

or a social outcast. People only saw a person color and it is because of that Remy wasn’t able to

hang with the blacks not the whites.

The scene between Malik and Remy killing Deja goes beyond it just being animosity

between ethnicities but the fact he killed someone. Malik is angry because his love Deja was

murdered by this racist white guy with whom he had always issue with. Remy is worried because

despite the fact that his group is behind him, he is scared for not only killing someone of the

opposite race but the fact he killed someone and it was someone really close with Malik. The
shooting was the pressure cooker exploding, and it is this scene between Malik and Remy that I

believe is the underlined side story pressure cooker that has been developing between Malik and

Remy along. In the end Remy says that he is sorry to Malik over and over again before he kills

himself. The pressure cooker has finally exploded for Remy and he ends up dead.

My take on Higher Learning is that all the events and racial conflict could have been

avoided, however speaking realistically I almost not have imagine it differently. There is always

going be that outcast who doesn’t fit in with everyone and they will be picked on constantly for

not sticking to a group, I am one of those weirdo’s. I believe that Remy was only negative

towards the blacks because they were hostile towards him and because the only group that has

accepted him just happens to be against the blacks too. Remy could have also tried a bit more to

fit in, yet talking from more of a personal view I think that seeing that there were already

established cliques, that Remy didn’t want to enter and adjust. If he had waited and allowed

himself to enter into some clubs of his interest or tried to allow himself just to overall be around

people then he would not have felt so lonely. Of course it is easy to say that now, but in the

present time it is understandable to me why he would not take such courses of action. Being an

African American/Black female I always thought to myself that it was because of my ancestor

and their long terms servitude and slavery that has built America. Yet, always constantly thinking

of that and constantly thinking that the world has something against you because your Black

does not make the situation any better but over time creates tension. The idea that the world owes

you something because you helped build this or that and the idea of the white suppressor needs

to stop because it is only holding Blacks back and creates and adds more racial tension between

Whites and Blacks. I am not saying that we are to forget the past, but my view is that blacks like

Malik needs to stop playing the race card and bringing up the history of his people. Just simply

do well. It is because of this overall ideology of blacks and the perception by Whites that they are
the superior race that leads to all of this. It will never end and it will never stop because it is in

human nature to compete and try to live longer. Never will the long term of slavery and servitude

be forgotten.