March Blog Post 3

Representative Lewis,

The book has, at this point, run its course and left an impact on the reader, but the best is yet to come in the final pages. We start by hearing about the assassination of Malcolm X which, while the SNCC and other followers of Dr. King didn’t agree with his methods, was a stunning loss to the movement. Then we move on to see you organize the march across the bridge where you get beaten and sent to the hospital in what eventually would become known as “Bloody Sunday”. A subsequent march saw a few klansmen attack some ministers and kill one of them, which finally prompted President Johnson to speak regarding the problem in the country. After this you began your march on the capitol. Four months after this event, the Voting Rights Act was signed into law.

 

 

This part of the story was essentially the climax where we see the boiling point of the SNCC, an assassination, and some of the most violent events of the whole story, and the resolution, where we see the law getting passed. As such, the reading didn’t leave many lingering questions.Because of this, it made me feel powerful. This part of the book made me think of how all the hard work I put into something will really be worth it in the end if I see it through. 

 

 

We see some of the same problems today with the police against the people. I believe that the best way to remedy this situation is for each side to put themselves in the other’s shoes. The police could understand that there is a community that believes that the police are out to get them because of race alone, and this community could try to understand that a police officer is just a person trying to do their job who have to follow certain protocol that, while they may seem cruel and unfair, in many cases they have no say in what they need to do. Many of the worlds problems could be solved by putting ourselves in each other’s shoes.

Thank you for your contributions to the United States,

David Guevara

The Shawshank Redemption, but instead of Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins it’s John Lewis and MLK

Representative Lewis,

 

This part of the book highlights the aftermath of the events regarding the three missing volunteers wherein they are found and you give an incensed and emotion-filled speech during their funeral service. After this, the democratic convention is mentioned and following this you tell us about your trip to the various African countries with some of the leaders in the SNCC. There you met up with Malcolm X shorty after his split from the Nation of Islam. Upon getting back from Africa, you realize that the SNCC is in a bit of a rough situation considering the leadership of the organization was gone for so many months. 

This part of the book is interesting because it brings up the possibility of different perspectives wherein one can solve one given issue. For instance, yourself and Dr. King believed that the way to get to the resolution of the issue was through peaceful protest and taking the higher moral stance so as to further show the brutal and violent nature of the resistance to the movement by southern politicians, lawmakers, and law enforcement. In contrast, Malcolm X was known for using violence in his tactics as a means to his end. This brings up the moral issue of whether violence is justifiable in this context and if it is, in fact, the more effective means by which to achieve this goal or if it is counter-productive to the true message that the movement was trying to make.

In 2019, there are still conflicts between the black community and the police force. This stems from the fact that there are instances of police brutality that are seemingly based on race. While it may seem that the police are biased against the black or other minority communities, it is something that is predicated on statistics surrounding the black community such as the fact that the male black population is responsible for 50% of violent crime in the US despite making up only 13% of the population and similar statistics involving theft and other crimes. While I do not believe that this is justification for excessive force, let alone murder, the police are instructed to defend themselves at all costs and must follow a certain protocol. This means that either there must be a change in protocol, or there must be a change in the black community so as to change the statistics and therefore end such bias.

 

Sincerely,

David Guevara

Second Letter to Rep. Lewis

Representative Lewis,

Throughout this section of the MARCH book we read about African American people in Mississippi trying to register to vote and being treated harshly and unfairly relative to white people who tried to register because blacks were given difficult literacy tests and essays to complete in a certain and unforgiving amount of time and if they were unable to complete a given task, sometimes something purely made up by the person at registrations, they were turned away and not given the right to vote. People then decided to organize a registration rally while you were in jail. Although few people were able to register at the rally it was a huge victory for the movement that the group was able to survive the day and became stronger as a result. Then you tell about how JFK was assassinated and how that as a huge blow to the movement, but the fact that LBJ stated his intention to pass the civil rights act was a relief to the cause despite the skepticism for him being a politician from Texas who used to deny black suffrage. Finally, we read about the missing students from the Mississippi Summer Project Training Camp. They were identified by a police officer, then went missing, and presumed dead by the movement.

This part of the story was more about the slow nature of making change. It felt like things weren’t getting done at some points but then I realized that it was more about the small victories and less so the big news breaking ones. I felt as though the unfairness of the situation was made worse because of the instances where the authorities such as the police, the governor, and the mayor, used their power and went out of their way to worsen the situation. Nowadays, I feel like there aren’t as many problems in terms of outright racism in government, so these problems have more or less been remedied in today’s day and age.

Sincerely,

David Guevara

The Ripple Effect of the Civil Rights Movement in the Modern Era

Dear Representative John Lewis,

First and foremost, it is an honor to be addressing to a man who played such an enormous part in one of the most pivotal eras of American history, and who continues to serve his country. Your book, MARCH: Book Three, serves as an exemplary first-person account of the regrettable and horrific events which surrounded the Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s. The first few pages surround the events of the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama and the subsequent reactions to this event from both the racist white supremacist side and the progressive African American Civil Rights movement. We also saw how religion and politics were more or less intertwined as the funeral/memorial service was used as a platform to present the message and further promote the agenda of the Civil Rights movement. This scene is one which invokes sorrow from the reader.

The events portrayed in the book come to life with the addition of the comic book style graphic novel approach.This makes each scene more relatable and seem closer and more vivid than it would ordinarily be with words alone. This part of the book in particular brought me feelings of anger and discomfort for the ignorant crimes of the past. I was thinking about the injustices of the past and how I’m glad they aren’t as prevalent today as they were then, at least in the US. As a hispanic, I can feel that I can similarly relate to some of the other minority groups that are plagued by prejudices and bias. 

In today’s day and age it is far easier for the average everyday citizen to get involved in their community than ever before through the development and advancement of the internet and social media. Although I believe that racism will never be able to truly leave us as a society, it can be remedied, because if there is a cure for anything in this era of information, it is the cure for ignorance.

Thank you,

David Guevara

 

#JohnLewis  #CivilRights  #MARCH

Struggling to Adapt

In terms of a pure literary experience, the first thing I can remember is copying down letters on large lined pieces of paper that were an uncomfortable grey-ish brown hue. I never liked those papers because not only was their color aesthetically unappealing, but they felt unnecessarily frail to the touch, as if a mere poke could tear a gaping hole through the paper, ruining the work that had previously been so meticulously placed on them. The alphabet, while a necessary asset to the development of a child, can seem like a tedious and repetitive task due to its incessant style of being drilled into your mind. That is, to a four year old that’s only real concern is when and where they will get their next pack of Pokemon trading cards. However, at least these assignments were limited to school time.

If there is a perfect time for there not to be school work, it’s during the summer. Summer is supposed to be a time for friends, fun, family, and sun. Notice the lack of the word books in the previous sentence. The reason for the absence of books in that sentence is that the boring nature of books perfectly contradicts the fun vibes of the break. The main point here is that my first summer reading assignment is something that has stuck with me since I was initially impacted by it. It may not seem like much right now, but I was assigned a Berenstain Bears chapter book going into the first grade. The directions said something along the lines of, “have your parents help you with this book”. Needless to say, I made my mom read the whole thing out loud to me. 

Dumb move on my part. The thing with being the child of two Colombian immigrants is that when you try to learn English from them, they teach you with a fairly heavy Spanish accent which makes it difficult to understand effectively. I used to be ashamed of the accent that seemingly plagued my parents’ efforts to communicate in English. It was something that I was heavily embarrassed of, to the point of begging my parents to keep as quiet as possible around my American friends. This situation has changed, however. Throughout the years I’ve learned to laugh at their little mistakes and attempt to helpfully correct them rather than to act out of disgust towards it. I still believe that the accent is far from ideal, but I think it’s fair to say that it’s something that I’ve gotten used to.

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