Boyz in the Hood by John Singleton is a statement of how urban youth have been handed down a legacy of tragic indifference, and the writer has shown that this is an almost inevitable fate for those born into racism and poverty repeat the patterns they wish to escape. The characters in the film are a clear representation of how the system fails young black men in the United States and the difference a mentor can make for these kids. During segregation, young black children became targets of white brutality. This film reflects what the European mentality and what it has done to African American culture. Chris and Doughboy, two brothers in gangs, live with a single mother. Chris is destined to get an athletic scholarship and there is hope that he will escape the gang life, however, without a mentor this does not happen. Tre is a young gang member whose father is always present in the background, and this is what keeps him alive and eventually gets him out of gang life. The film makes the point that if a child is observed by an adult who cares for him from early childhood, he will have a better chance of surviving the urban gang life from which he could not otherwise escape. The early childhood scenes of the three boys foreshadow this as Chris and Doughboy are in juvie as children, while Tre is spared this because his father watches him. This theme will continue throughout the film. The landscape of the urban ghetto and the legacy left to young black men, and the death it brings upon them, are well represented in the film. The film Boyz in the Hood opens with the boys who will be followed throughout the film. It is a foreshadowing of the events that will follow them throughout their lives. Ricky and Doughboy are fatherless and having committed a crime, they are the focus of the card, this makes them feel like they have a family. Since this was true for them as children, all three characters seemed predestined to their final fate. While this is not the only outcome, it is the most likely outcome for America's poverty-stricken black youth. The fact that Boys In The Hood was made in 1991, before the Hollywoodization of the black experience, gives the film a legitimacy that is difficult to find now. This makes it a valuable piece of cinema for those who want to understand what life in the ghetto might really be like. Works CitedBoyz in the Hood. 1991, dir. John Singleton, Per. Ice Cube, Cuba Gooding Jr., LaurenceFishbourne. Pictures of Columbia. FilmConley, D. Race the Power of an Illusion, 2003, Interview with Dalton Conley, Classroom Reading2014Kruger, B., Mariani, P. Black Culture and Postmodernism 1998, Classroom Reading 2014.