HISTORY OF RACIAL TERROR

The film begins a young black man being abducted by a disguised individual as he is walking through what appears to be an upper-middle class white suburb (Nichols), thereby communicating that the film will further address violence and acts of terror against black people.
Incidences of kidnapping, murder, and other racially charged violent acts are still common in the United States and have been largely shaped by the history of this country. Multiple centuries of kidnapping, rape, murder, slavery, biased policing, and general violence against the African American people has led to a continual state of fear and paranoia for black people, both of which are primary emotions conveyed in “Get Out” (Avella). Between the Civil War and WWII, over 4,000 lynching cases were documented in the American South. This was a dark time in American history that occurred less than a century ago, and continues to have effect on the psyche of African Americans.
Despite the “end of lynching” in the 1960’s racial terror has still prevailed in America through multiple other forms of violence against black people:  the legalized death penalty used disproportionately against black people, police brutality, mass incarceration of black people, and absent or limited legal action against murderers of black people (Staples).