Historical Accuracy Of Freedom Writers

Freedom Writers

Gang violence in Los Angeles was at its prime in 1992 right after the infamous Rodney King incident and Los Angeles riots that locked down the city for three days. (Rodney King and the Los Angeles Riots, http://www.citivu.com/ktla/sc-ch1.html) Teenagers in the rough neighborhoods of California thought that they were destined to become gang members with their respective races, to fight a battle that their ancestors started. During this time period, teenage gang members felt that high school was forced education and that they were only in there because the government forced them in there. The movie first portrays the students as kids who don’t know any better than to survive on the streets, Erin Gruwell inspired her students to success far greater than any street life can bring. Freedom Writers is historically accurate. (ChasingTheFrog, http://www.chasingthefrog.com/reelfaces/freedomwriters.php)

Racial segregation is characterized by boundaries of different races in daily life such as using a restroom, going to the movies or eating at a restaurant. It is a form of racism where one race does not have the rights to do everyday activities like the regular predominant in that certain area. The most infamous event of discrimination and segregation in the world was during World War II in Nazi Germany lead by Adolf Hitler. Nazism intended to wipe out and kill everyone who was Jewish, Ukrainian, Homosexuals and the Polish because they believed they were impure. (History Learning Site, http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/Jews_Nazi_Germany.htm) Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated for leading black people in the United States to fight for their civil rights; Malcolm X inspired King who died for the same cause. White supremacy was all throughout the United States of America during the early 1900’s, to this day racial segregation still exists in North America with regular support from reverends Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. (Martin Luther King Jr, http://www.martinlutherking.org/)

Race segregation plays a large factor at Woodrow Wilson High School where the movie was filmed, the movie portrays gangs of Latinos, Blacks, Whites and Cambodians all hanging out together in their respective groups plotting ways to gain other gang territory. These kids were fighting and killing over small matters of disrespect, as simple as stepping on someone’s shoe got them shot. The territory of Los Angeles and the territory of the high school are all still gang-related, the Latinos had certain blocks of Long Beach and wings of the high school as well as all the other gangs had their respective locations. The gangs have hatred for rival gangs because of ancestors years ago had disputes with each other like current Palestine and Israel, the fighting goes all the way back to the Crusades with generations dying in a fight they don’t even know how it started. The real life struggles of territory and race segregation are accurately depicted in scenes of Freedom Writers.

Several organizations fight for equal education in the United States for kids in less developed areas, often slums and ghettos with families that have lower income are at the disadvantage all because of the environment they grew up in. (Education Unites, http://www.educationunites.org/vision.html)Statistics show that the ratio of white students going to university to the ratio of black students is significantly higher, George W. Bush recognized this and put the “No Child Left Behind” act into effect to raise academics of black teenagers in lower-income areas to pursue a post-secondary career. (Illinois State Board of Education, http://www.isbe.net/nclb/default.htm)

Education unites the students throughout the film, to focus on education and a future rather than fighting and risking their lives in the eternal struggle of the streets. The students soon find that they have much in common when Erin Gruwell asks how many people have been shot at and how many people know about the Holocaust, almost every kid raises their hand to being