To be honest, I’ve always been a fan of listening to stories about the black civil right movements. Something about the passion to fight for one’s freedom to live and express really touched deep. It isn’t even so much about  the black community in particular, the fact that someone strives to make a mark in their lives that benefits them and the people that will follow really inspires.

Learning about Martin Luther King Jr.’s letter from Birmingham Jail, what really struck was the amount of assurance he is able to portray. I mean .. cmon .. he’s in jail, if I was in that situation, I’d think that was it for me. I actually envy this passion. I haven’t had the greatest childhood so I pushed through life feeling like I always had something to prove; get good grades, get into a good university, etc etc. but to be honest, I’m not that much of a smart kid. Hell, I’m even shocked on the fact I made it to UBC. But that made me realize it’s all about pushing through and fighting for what believe and love and not for what everyone expects out of you.

“I have no dear about the outcome of our struggle in Birmingham, even if our motives are presently misunderstood. We will reach the goal of freedom in Birmingham and all over the nation, because the goal of America is freedom”

Due to talking about the fall and rise of a nation, I was reminded on the movie “Freedom Writers” (if anyone reading this hasn’t watched, I HIGHLY recommend it. I’ll try to put a clip of it in the end if i remember). The movie explores the struggle and abuse teenagers go through with gang wars in Longbeach California (i think ..). A teacher comes into their lives and changes it for the good. I know it sound cliche coming from my mind but that just because I’m nowhere good enough to grasp the concept of the film on a blog (let alone writing a blog itself). Learning through the progress of civil rights movements through Louis Menand’s “The Rise and Fall of the Voting Rights Act” and combining it with the situation real teenagers are facing with gang wars due to your heritage and ethnicity, it actually makes you think “have we really gotten to where we were aiming to go?” This thought is the exact fact the struck me with the last sentence of the article when Menand mentions “What’s so changed about that?”

I dont know .. I guess i may be overthinking it but at least it’s gotten my mind to ponder over something.

Here are two scenes from the movie, I feel like it really relates the to topics we’re discussing now; rights, ethnicity, racism.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpsd3Zikrlg

&

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3c5pbePUc2g

enjoy :]