Community and Chance

Thinking back about the Boys of Baraka, I feel the community, in the largest sense, that they lived in demonstrates how restraining codes of power can be. It seemed the boy’s community more often restrained them than moved them to break the codes of power they were born into. The school that was available to them was so detrimental that the parents believed the only outcome would be that their child would be in jail. All but one parent did not have enough income to move to another community to gain a better education. The boys themselves seemed to be outcasts when compared to all of the other children who lived in the community, as Richard stayed indoors during the summer with no friends. Every support system that existed in the community reproduced the socio-economical struggle that every member in the community felt. It wasn’t until the boys left their own community that they started to feel empowered. It was chance that the boys had the opportunity to go to the Baraka school. It was chance that Richard, who appeared so promising at the beginning of the movie, was left feeling hopeless and chance that the others were more successful.

Theory is insightful; however, putting theory to practice can seem daunting. Deplit argues that “students must be taught the codes needed to participate fully in the mainstream of American life.” (p.45) I feel this movie illustrates this wonderfully, as all the boys can see from their community is failure. However, relating this back to our conversation about race, I would argue that all children, regardless of their background need to understand that different codes of power exist. Change cannot happen only from one side, but from all sides.