Wise words indeed.
The movie "FREEDOM WRITERS" starring Hilary Swank and Patrick Dempsey is instructive.
Yes, 'Freedom Writers' is based on a true story. LaGravenese developed the script for the film from the 1999 book 'The Freedom Writers Diary,' a compiled version of the journal entries by the real Erin Gruwell and her students. In 1994, Gruwell joined Woodrow Wilson High as a student-teacher.
Blacks, Latinos, Asians, one White male student.
Gangs, death by guns in the gangs, racial gang and turf wars, cultures, 'street cred, honor, respect if you go to jail or die defending your own kind'.
After the students circulated in class a drawing of one of the Black students with big lips and laughing about it, teacher Erin caught them, saw the drawing and was horrified.
"What is this? I've seen drawings like this before, in newspapers etc. Except instead of Black people it was of Jewish people. You think you're gangsters, you're amateurs compared to the biggest gang in history, you think you're cool taking over areas, they took over countries. They blamed Jewish people for all their troubles, and that caused the Holocaust."
A Latino student raised his hand, "please Miss, that thing you mentioned earlier, the Holocaust, what is that?" Erin said, slightly annoyed [not with the students]..."hands up anyone who knows what the Holocaust is", White guy the only one to raise his hand.
So she took the class to the Holocaust Museum.
*
She told the class that "when you die to get honor and respect [in the gang wars etc] you'll rot in the ground, and everyone else will go on living, no one will remember you".
*She taught her students the benefits of an good education, She taught them how to write, offered them the chance to take a blank book from her desk to use as a diary.
They had to write something in the book every day, about anything they liked, anything. They had to give her permission to read them by putting them on a certain shelf in the cupboard.
The stories they wrote about gangs, domestic violence, families being evicted etc were truly sad.
Erin organised computers for them to use to type their diaries and compile them into the book "The Freedom Writers Diary".
In one class they had "A Toast for Change"
The lives of Black etc youth can be changed...for the better.
www.cjcj.org
