The Matrix is such a hodgepodge of different influences that it seems endless the many different readings and associations one may have while viewing it. The most overt symbolism in the trilogy of films is the allegory of institutional racism. Through a series of representations inside and outside of the Matrix, there is clear allusions to the concept of institutional racism. To name a few, the most clear and obvious sign would be the Agents. They are all of the Caucasian race and they all represent the bureaucracy by wearing suits and ties. Men in black have always been associated with the government's agenda to keep a lid on conspiracies. They are the men in power, or machines, who will stop at nothing to maintain the control over a species they find inferior. Agent Smith even associates them with a parasite. Another instance of white male dominance is established in the Matrix with the pseudo-religious association with The One and the perpetuation of typical Caucasian/Western ideals of gods. Neo is the one, yet he is also white. He is the typical symbol of Christ, who's image has been used to give hope to minorities everywhere. Neo's sacrifice in The Matrix Revolutions is clear indication of Neo's Christ-like qualities. He is the white symbol of control of hope and optimism that is also essentially controlled by the system. In The Matrix Reloaded, Neo confronts another Caucasian white male who is The Architect, or in other words, God. These two depictions of God and Jesus have been circulated around the globe by the conquistadors of Spain and early Puritans of the Americas. They have become a degree of spiritual control that the machines have used to govern the outliers that live in Zion. The Matrix bleeds into the real world through associations with the pseudo-religion of the one. Zion exists because it is allowed by the machines to exist for the purpose of exiling the people attempting to destroy the chains of their bondage to an illusion of the truth.
Zion is first and foremost a ghetto. Its inhabitants are mostly minorities, the captains of their ships and armies are mostly African American, and the machines they use are primitive (compared with the society of machines). The information gap between the poor people of Zion and the machines of the surface world are vastly different and the machines are eons ahead in tech. Down to the clothes they wear, which are usually tattered and gray, and the food they eat, Tasty Wheat, which only provides what the body needs. Nothing more nothing less.
Representation in the Matrix trilogy may only promote the ideologies of the dominant race running things, but it narrates the story in a way to make us believe that something may be wrong with the system of doing things, and to not only constantly question it, but to move to erase it. Neo ends up becoming a ambassador to the machines in the final Matrix film. He attempts to reconnect with the machines by offering them a solution to their Agent Smith problem and offering them a truce. Coexistence is promoted and established in the Matrix and it is only through a clear representation of institutionalized racism and only trough the avowal of its existence can it be destroyed.
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