MovieChat Forums > Mississippi Burning (1989) Discussion > Burning houses after trial scene

Burning houses after trial scene

posted 8 years ago by gressos
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There is something I always had trouble to figure out with the scene of the black people's burning houses right after the three KKKs were acquitted.
It's Anderson's line to Ward:''If I was black,I'd be thinking like them''.
This line made me think that the black people,knowing what would happen to them after the free walkaway of the KKKs,decided to burn their own houses down,thinking that the racists would leave them alone.
Of course,I could be wrong and it was just another attack of the KKKs.
But then,why did Anderson said this at that particular moment?What 'thinking''was he referring to?

[–] riraho (128) a year ago

The thinking is when the system is gamed against them with no justice or retribution, their lives aren't worth living and that's why they get fed up and "burn it down."