Freedom Writers is about a 1st year English teacher who is working in a impoverished district and everyone has written off the students saying they can’t succeed. But she engages them and earns their trust. But it discusses topics in the community that they have to deal with. In the beginning she realized how segregated the school was in their own cultural groups. There was a very emotional scene when the teacher asks her students many personal questions like “have you lost a friend to gang violence? Do you know where you can get drugs? Have you gone to jail? “She realized how many people had lost more than 1 friend due to gang violence. Everyone actually started to think and then she gave them all a journal because she wanted them to have their own “Story.” It can be good, bad, not okay, but as long as they write in it every single day and tell your honest thoughts. She had a hard time connecting with these students, but she found her way in and wanted them to know she was a safe place.

This movie really hits the nail on the head with things we’ve learned about. You see systemic injustice, racism, othering. We have seen many real situations in the books we have read and there wasn’t much filter. We knew people’s real feelings, what they went through, how they coped, etc. This book reminded me a lot of it because there were so many differences, and these kids were struggling because they didn’t have people that really cared about them. Poverty really set them up for failure too and that is not their fault and people struggle which is totally okay. They just struggled more than others and it gave you a touch of an actual feeling of living in poverty and going to a poverty school.

We have seen many forms of systemic Injustice in our readings throughout the semester. We have seen a lot of unfair things and read about things people have went through, overall making them who they are. The reading this week also showed us a lot of things with Changez. Changez was from Pakistan. He then moved to New York City where we worked as a financial firm. He was very intelligent, and he worked very hard at his job. He also worked hard at being accepted in America, as he was finding his identity here. He really wanted to live the American Dream. While he was here, he fell in love with an American women named Erica. She had her own problems, but he really felt a connection with her. For example, “I met her eyes, and for the first time I perceived that there was something broken behind them, like a tiny crack in a diamond that becomes visible only when viewed through a magnifying lens; normally it is hidden by the brilliance of stone.” (Pg. 59) She then kind of just went out of the story as Changez spent most of his time working, and she was dealing with her own battles. Changez started to really feel out of place in America shortly after, he felt as racism was shown against him. This then led him to wanting to move back to Pakistan. He began to really dislike America. Many things happened before he felt this way. For example, when he had the incident at the airport. It was time and time again he felt like he was showed he wasn’t meant to be in America anymore. Most of the readings we have read have showed us the difficulties these individuals go through, sometimes they get better sometimes they get worse. But it’s important to remember the main themes of these stories. This can remind you of a few novels we have read. One, Marji found herself just like Changez did. They both felt lost but found themselves and found their identities. Another example would be when Twyla felt like she just didn’t fit in. Twyla felt like an outcast just like Changez did but in a little bit of different circumstances. Also, it shows the concept we covered of systemic injustice with his airport exchange. He was frowned upon just because he wasn’t from America. I mean they may have had their “reasoning” but in all I felt like that’s what truly did it.

Every day we see people living in different social classes, different races, etc. We have seen a lot of news about white police officers shooting black people for no reason. About 8-9 months ago a white officer shot and killed a black man just holding his cellphone, in Ohio. Adam Coy, the police officer, had gotten fired right away because they felt he had absolutely no reason to act that way.  This is completely true and there are no excuses. We have seen many of these incidents that end up with a white cop in jail and a black person killed. This is absolutely disgusting that this is still a thing or a worry. They’re obviously bad cops and good cops. But it’s understandable why so many people don’t trust police officers anymore. But it’s hard for the ones who use this job and are passionate about it. This just shows that some cops are taking their power to their head. This has a significant impact because we have seen many protests over things like this. We have seen many people dying over people thinking they are better because of their color. Many of these cases are because a white person (cop) feels threatened by an African American person, for normally no reason. This is not okay, we live in a diverse world, where no race is more threatening than another. It’s beyond crazy to think that way and there is no way to make this right. We see white, black, and every other race commits crime every day. We need to keep an eye on our officers and try to point out the bad apples before things keep going to this extent. We need more information on people who get pulled over and are treated differently because of their race. We must get all the leads we can so we can stop this nonsense. It is scary because these fatal shootings of African Americans only seem to be increasing, we hear about it increasingly, and we must find a way to stop it. The novel we read last week does not have the same exact thing happening, but it is relatable. Deming had to try to change his whole life when he got in with an American family. This would be extremely hard, as it was, but people can change their lives. He wasn’t frowned upon because of his race but they expected him to change his beliefs, etc. So, he kind of was. This relates with people thinking African Americans are bad people when they are not. There is no reason to even believe this, and they are judged for everything they do. When we should just accept anyone for who they are. 

Black people more than three times as likely as white people to be killed during a police encounter | News | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health 

Here’s A Timeline Of Unarmed Black People Killed By Police Over Past Year (buzzfeednews.com)