Throughout our lives we face many problems, math problems, relationship problems, car problems, etc. Unfortunately throughout our lives we also experience issues regarding our cultural and ethnic background. For some people these problems can be much more debilitating than most everyday problems people experience. The movie Finding Forrester is an example of this. Finding Forrester is the story of an unlikely friendship born from a shared passion for writing. William Forrester is a famous reclusive author and Jamal Wallace, a young African American boy who had recently moved to an elementary school in Manhattan. Their friendship leads William to overcome his fears of socialization and Jamal to overcome his racial prejudices. I believe this film is important because it provides a realistic account of the subtle forms of racism that are more common in today's society, rather than the extreme outward forms of early American history. The film begins with Jamal Wallace, one of the main characters of the film, playing basketball with his friends. They notice someone watching them from the top floor window of a nearby apartment building. Jamal's friends dare him to go upstairs, sneak into the apartment, and bring back something to prove he really broke in. The man who owned the apartment was William Forrester. When Jamal sneaks in, he is caught by William and Jamal mistakenly leaves his backpack behind as he flees. Later Forrester drops Jamal's backpack on the street. Jamal discovers that Forrester had been writing notes in Jamal's journals. Jamal then returns to Forrester's apartment and asks him to read more of Jamal's writings. This is when their relationship begins. Jamal begins visiting Forrester regularly and gets a job. The media has focused on the stereotypical negative aspects of the African American community. The media did not focus on important events in African American communities. Issues such as urbanization, education, poverty and other elements have a significant impact on the positions of the black community (Balkaran). In conclusion, while this film focuses primarily on the more subtle side of racism, subtle forms of racism can often be even more oppressive because the subtleties often go unnoticed. Oppressors make no effort to change racist behavior because there are not enough repercussions to force change. From there the descent is slippery. Every unpunished action, subtle or extreme, reinforces the behaviors of the oppressor. Recognizing the problem at its source will be key to unlocking a more tolerant future.