preview

Freedom Riders: Important To The Civil Rights Movement

Better Essays

The movie Freedom Riders was important to the civil rights movement, which occurred in the 1990s during time this movie took place. The aim of freedom rides “was to call attention to blatant violations of recent Supreme Court ruling against segregation in interstate commerce” (Henretta, Hinderaker, Edwards, Self). The civil rights movement was a fight for equality and police mortality. Freedom Writers takes place in the 1900s during the Watt’s Riot (LA civil rights movement). Blacks were fighting for equality and to be treated as equally as whites; they wanted less police brutality and they rioted for what they believed in. The movie begins with a new high school teacher, Erin Gruwell, who just got a job at Wilson High School in Long Beach, …show more content…

I saw white cops shoot my friend in the back for reaching into his pocket, his pocket! I saw white cops come into my house and take my father away for no reason except they feel like it! Except because they can! And they can because they’re white. And so I HATE white people on sight!” This is a true story based on inner city kids that whom live in the projects living the most difficult lives. These kids struggle every single day… living in poverty/homelessness, lack of educational skills, and were a part of gang and domestic violence. They were taught that all police and white people were bad because they were the people who arrested them or their family (people of their same kind). They didn’t believe in giving respect to teacher because she was white. They wanted respect and in order to gain respect it was more than just the color of your skin. During the 1990s; LA riots were still occurring because of inequality and disrespect shown through society. A lot of property were damaged, people killed, and many injuries. Race was such a big factor of it all. I think the filmmakers did an incredible job portraying the history of race and self identification throughout this movie. A quote I believed was very powerful in this movie about police

Get Access