Remember the Dream

As the week beginning with Martin Luther King Day draws to a close, it seems an opportune time to turn the spotlight on a recent film which is a reminder of the struggles and triumphs of de-segregation efforts in the not-so-distant past. Remember the Titans, which chronicles the true story of a newly integrated high school football team in Alexandria, Virginia in 1971, is a powerful movie that demonstrates the strength to be found when unity triumphs over the stigmas of diversity.

The bulk of the movie takes place in the form of a flashback to 1971, when the death of a black student precipitated the integration of the city's two high schools. In an effort to accommodate the incoming black athletes, a new coach, Herman Boone (Denzel Washington), was hired to head up the Titans, the high school football team, much to the dismay of current head coach Bill Yoast (Will Patton), in the running for the city's Hall of Fame because of the Titans' excellent track record. The movie begins and ends in a cemetery in 1981, guided by the narration of Yoast's fiery daughter Cheryl, who was nine years old (Hayden Pannetiere) in 1971.

As new head coach, Boone faced many difficulties, the most harrowing of which was the task of convincing the white and black teammates to cooperate. The first team member to bridge the racial gap was Louis Lastik (Ethan Suplee), a gentle giant with a love for Motown music. The other teammates came around more slowly, forced to get to know one another by their relentless coach. Once star player Julius Campbell (Wood Harris) and Gerry Bertier (Ryan Hurst) learned to work together, the others followed quickly, and by the end of football camp the team was actually acting like one.

The rest of the movie deals with the lack of understanding by the rest of the Alexandrians upon the return of the newly integrated team and the teammates' struggle to remain united in the face of their still racist town. The youths had finally learned to see past their differences, but their parents were not prepared to accept the change. Winning became more important than ever because one game would cost Boone his leadership position. For Yoast, however, a winning season for the Titans under Boone would mean the loss of his nomination to the Hall of Fame.

Because this is a true story, the struggles of its main characters are especially poignant and speak to us as we remember the dream of Martin Luther King. Life does not always provide the happiest of endings, and Remember the Titans is not without its tragedy, but the way in which the team stood together to rise above it ends the movie on a victorious note. This marvelous movie is a powerful reminder of how far we've come and how far we have yet to go before all people are "judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."