Review Of Freedom Writers By Tupac Shakur

I Don’t Know You, But I Know You’re Important As said by Tupac Shakur, “The only thing America respects is power and power concedes nothing. After the LA Riots, they tried to calm us down and nothing changed since.” More than sixty people died during the L.A. riots on April 29, 1992. Gangs erupted afterwards, due to the apparent discrimination of African-Americans from Caucasian officers. In Freedom Writers, written and directed by Richard LaGravenese, a high school named Woodrow Wilson, suffered in the aftermath of the L.A. riots, turning a once prestigious school into a school for the ‘bad kids’, or kids who had been to juvenile detention. Erin Gruwell, a first time teacher, went to Woodrow Wilson in order to teach and help the ‘bad kids’.
Gruwell showed her students respect. She taught them that to get respect, you had to give it. Although the class didn’t agree with it, due to her race, she left it alone. Later on, she caught someone drawing a picture of another, due to their race. She simply asked, “What if it was you?” The student replied with a smart remark. Ms. Gruwell went on with how the best gang ever, the Nazis, eliminated Jews just because they thought they were below everyone else. She said it was a Holocaust, but the majority of the class didn’t know what that was. She bought new Anne Frank books for the class to read on their own. Ms. Gruwell even arranged a weekend field trip about the Holocaust. This showed them what younger kids had to go through due to prejudice and racism. Even at young ages, the concentration camp prisoners still died and were tortured. She showed them the true meaning of
Gruwell had her students write in these journals, which she gave them to write about their lives, whether it was the past, present, or future. If they wanted her to read them, they put the journal in a closet for her. She opened it at the end of the day and found all of them. She took them all out and started to read. Ms. Gruwell read all of them, which put the students’ situation into perspective. These kids been through things that she hadn’t gone through. Ms. Gruwell got to see how each child struggled outside of school. At the beginning of Sophomore year, Miguel took out his journal and started reading. He wrote about how he became homeless and how it was scary, but the class gave him hope and made him feel safe. The class hugged Miguel, and Marcus, a student who had been thrown out of his house, helped him along. Marcus mentioned how Ms. Gruwell made him want to stay in school and actually graduate from high school. Ms. Gruwell didn't realize how much she changed the once prejudiced and segregated class into a working community. In conclusion, Freedom Writers had many educational themes, but in my perspective, only one stood out. Sometimes the least expected person will make the best change in your life. Ms. Gruwell did something amazing, which gave all of these students a place to go for help and safety. Every student used to be separated into groups only with their race. Ms. Gruwell broke the barrier by showing them how other people had it worse and how everyone