#march

The Final Moments

by cguzman5

Dear John Lewis, 

Finishing your book left me with mixed emotions. Everything seemed as if it was going downhill when Jimmie Lee Jackson and Malcolm X passed away and being assassinated; I couldn’t imagine the shock of two people who just were what they believed was right for everyone and had done it with no violent intentions as well. After that, Bloody Sunday occurred, the irony of all of the peaceful protestors kneeling and suddenly being violently attacked by the guards on the bridge showed the true hate some people can have. I was in awe when you continued to give it your all, despite the obstacles that had been thrown at you. It was also very shocking to see you leave SNCC because you no longer agreed with what their new message was

 I really enjoyed the little flashbacks of meeting President Obama because of what it symbolized; to never give up. All the hardships that you had gone through were worth it. The images made it feel more real and intense during the Bloody Sunday scenes. It was made that way to make the reader understand the pain and determination that everyone went through. You wanted to convey how in the end, its all worth it. The fight for one’s rights never truly ends, because we’re still fighting for them today. To fight this; people must be informed and not left in the dark about injust circumstances. To get solutions done, people have to come together

 Sincerely,

Carmen Guzman

The Fight Continues

by cguzman5

Dear John Lewis, 

     While reading I was left in complete shock. I felt the emotion throughout the moment of the funeral and the words were very powerful. I was also very angry when I realized what the President and his staff were trying to do when Fannie Lou Hamer came on national T.V to share her story.  I was also not expecting to see everyone go to Africa and meet Malcolm X. It was also interesting to see the teachers march. I noticed how you kept using the word “march” in several instances, and the different tones you gave for the same word. The moment of what was happening in Selma, and how you focused on that specific part seemed like a very huge milestone and climax 

     You used pathos heavily in this part of your book because of Malcolm X’s death, I was shocked by how you received the news with him, and with Jimmie Lee Jackson.  It seems that you were building up to that scene of the bridge and how you made the mood very tense and somber. I wonder what made you accept that every time you would go march or protest, you’d get arrested. I liked the parallel you gave, by when it focused on the present time when President Obama was inaugurated and when it went back to the past.  A solution i’d like to propose would be to encourage the people to continue to fight for what’s right and to not get discouraged. 

                                                                                                   Sincerely,

                                                                                          Carmen Guzman

     

 

MARCH #2

by cguzman5

 Dear John Lewis, 

The events in the ’60s are something I still can’t properly wrap my head around. I can’t imagine how hard and how brave everyone had to be to stand up for their rights. The way that voting offices would give literacy tests to only black applicants, or how they’d get targeted if they were able to successfully register to vote. How officers would find a reason to arrest any of the protestors and send them straight to jail was very shocking. Right after that, there was a protest planned called the ‘Freedom Vote’, with Harvard University student, Bob Moses. During that protest, President Kennedy had been shot and assassinated, and everyone had to continue with the protests that’d been planned, everyone had to keep pushing forward. What really created further tension, was when the three young voters were presumed to be missing; but in reality, everyone had known deep down what had happened to them. This portion of your book focused mainly on the darker and more depressing moments.  I was very shocked when I saw how brutal someone’s experience was to register to vote, compared to my experience where I could easily register online. Also, the feeling of dread and surprise when I saw what happened to those young voters, I had a feeling of what had happened but was still stunned when their bodies were found. I wondered why you put in the portion of the party and that one moment where everyone was happy, was it because you wanted to show how young you all were still? A solution I would like to propose would be not to give up, and to continue to fight for what you believe is right.

                                                                                                         Sincerely,

                                                                                                                          Carmen Guzman