Erin Gruwell and the Freedom Writers' story of Tolerance
A few weeks ago, after visiting with some of my favourite friends, I noticed a book that seemed to captivate my eyes. It was lying on a low shelf, maybe even a shoe rack, with Hilary Swank on the cover. It looked like a hip-hop type movie. I wondered, why am I interested in this book, I do not usually like books that Hollywood decides to cover, as it likely will be a light fluff movie.
After a few drinks, and putting on my shoes, getting ready to step out into the cold wintery night, I realized that I had pocketed this book, without a word to my hosts, in horror, I blurted out and quickly asked to borrow this book, luckily my hosts had no problem with this.
I haven't been in the practice of reading books for quite a while, having been on a bit of a hiatus. This book was quite different, I read it page to page, taking it with me on the bus and in the bathroom to read. I cried often, even on the bus, and sometimes after only a few paragraphs.
As with any topic that interests me, I would start researching it more. Asking questions such as, what makes Erin Gruwell different, what happens to the Freedom Writers after this, what programs are available? Watching videos, and reading any material I can get.
It seems that some of the biggest wars after all may not be of religion but of intolerance, racial or other. The stories of these kids in Long Beach are horrific, having crack head father figures or lack of, being evicted, being shot at or raped.
Yet through it all, these kids manage to graduate from high school, when most did not even believe they would live much less graduate high school and move on to college. Some are even pursuing their PhD's.
Amazing, a real life Hollywood story, it is so unbelievable but it is true, the students learn to see past their lives by reading Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl
They begin to see past their race, where once the only point of their existence was having the back of their homeboy and dying for their kind.
