The Killing Floor

Scenes depict a car driving through an African American neighborhood while a white man fires a rifle at African Americans sitting outside on the stoops of their apartment buildings. A mob of white men chase two African Americans out of an all-white neighborhood that the African American men must walk through in order to get to work. During the rioting, African American man shown dead on the sidewalk. Talk of how the riot started when an African American boy was stoned to death when he went swimming and ended up on the "white" side of Lake Michigan. Agitators throw bricks at union leaders in order to break up a peaceful protest. Footage of cattle being stabbed and cut up for meat and other byproducts -- one of the lead character's jobs on "the killing floor" is to use a pushbroom to remove the blood.

Some flirtation and close dancing in one scene, after the lead character bets that he can pick up an attractive woman at the bar.

"N" word frequently used by white and Black characters. Graffiti on a viaduct wall reads, "[N-words] Go Home," and "Kill the [N-words]." "Coloreds" is frequently used to describe African Americans. Ethnic slur used to describe Polish Americans.

Drinking in a bar -- shots, beer. Men pass around a jug while riding in a train car. Men in a meat packing locker room pass around a bottle of whiskey.

Parents need to know that The Killing Floor is a 1984 drama in which an African American man moves to Chicago during World War I, finds work in the stockyards, and takes part in the labor movement. As a movie set in the years during and after World War I, against a backdrop of labor tensions and the "Chicago Race Riot of 1919," racism is a central theme to the movie, and as such, the "N" word is often used, including racist graffiti on a viaduct as a threat to African Americans who must walk through a "white" neighborhood in order to get to their jobs. In a time when Americans are reassessing their history and the role systemic racism has played and plays in American life, this movie is incredibly timely and relevant. It should inspire discussion among families about prejudice by race and ethnicity, the rise of labor unions and the labor movement, and how the owners of large industries (in this case, meatpackers) would flame racial and ethnic tensions in order to ensure that there would always be a pool of workers willing to work for low pay and no job security. The movie explores these issues with tremendous depth and nuance, effectively showing the connections between economic class and race, how union leaders attempted to transcend racism and prejudice for a greater good, and the challenges faced by the lead character in trying to convince African Americans to join a union when many African Americans viewed unions as just another institution that took their money and only looked out for white Americans. In terms of content, there are some violent moments, including scenes of white men firing rifles from a car at African Americans who are sitting on the stoops of their apartments, dead bodies on the streets, agitators throwing bricks at union leaders. Some drinking in a bar, in the employee locker room after work, and in a train car. Besides racial epithets and outdated words to describe African American like "coloreds," ethnic slurs are also used.

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