The Freedom Writers: "We discovered a powerful form of self expression."
|
|
|
This is an excerpt from a statement on the Freedom Writers Foundation site:
Following the Rodney King Riots and the O.J. Simpson trial, the mood in our city was unsettling, and on our first day of high school, we had only three things in common: we hated school, we hated our teacher, and we hated each other.
Whether it was official or not, we all knew that we had been written off. Low test scores, juvenile hall, alienation, and racial hostility helped us fit the labels the educational system placed on us: “unteachable,” “below average,” and “delinquents.”
Somehow, Ms. G recognized our similarities, and used them to unite us. She gave us books written by teenagers that we could relate to, and it was through these books that we began to realize that if we could relate to a little girl who lived on the other side the world, fifty years before we did, we could certainly relate to each other.
We felt like Anne Frank, trapped in a cage, and identified with the violence in Zlata Filipovic’s life….
We began writing anonymous journal entries about the adversities that we faced in our every day lives. We wrote about gangs, immigration, drugs, violence, abuse, death, anorexia, dyslexia, teenage love, weight issues, divorce, suicide, and all the other issues we never had the chance to express before.
We discovered that writing is a powerful form of self expression that could help us deal with our past and move forward. Room 203 was like Anne’s attic or Zlata’s basement, it was our safe haven, where we could cry, laugh, and share our stories without being judged.
We decided to call ourselves the Freedom Writers after learning about the Freedom Riders who fought against segregation during the Civil Rights Movement. …
The photo at left is Wilson High School [Long Beach, Calif.] teacher Erin Gruwell, then 23, and some of her student Freedom Writers. The other photos are from the film starring Hilary Swank.
The book: The Freedom Writers Diary
Related Talent Development Resources pages:
nurturing mental health : writing
nurturing talent : teen/young adult
writing : teen/young adult
~~
