Morganlee's Blog

MarchArchive

Dec 09

March #4

Posted in March       No Comments »

Dear John Lewis,
When reading the closing section of your book we saw the final parts of the civil right movement and the perseverance you had to be able to accomplish your goals. In this section we see the nighttime march for James Orange after the rallying by C.T. Vivian which also ended in a deadly shooting. We also go to see your thoughts Malcolm X’s assassination and those of MLK. One of the most hopeful moments in your book is your meeting with Barack Obama, which bring the story full circle. We get to see a time where black people could not even vote and a transition to the first black president. This I like seeing that all the suffering was worth it.
Even through reaching this point in history shows so much progress. It is depressing that this was even a battle that had to be fought. The fact that so many black people were dehumanized and treated as second class citizens is awful and has no justification.
When reading the section where you cut ties with the SNCC in order to participating in the march I had many questions. Did you completely separate from the members? Or was it a one-time thing? Being a part of a group like SNCC is amazing and it must have been a hard decision.
Although look back over such depressing time can be sad, I am glad that I got to read this book and see the determination and resilience of black people during this time.

Morganlee Blake 

Nov 18

Dear John Lewis, 

I am writing you this letter because I recently read pages 110-173 of your book March. In this section of the book we see the struggles of African Americans as the fought for the right to vote. One thing that really struck a chord with me was when Fannie Lou Hamer explained the poor treatment of many other African Americans and herself when the were simply fight for their rights as citizens, which is something that The United Stated claimed to be an act of heroism when non-people of color when doing the same thing in the founding of this country. In this section we also see many leaders of the Black community, as Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X, come together and work for a common goal even though they had different approaches.

               Seeing the obstacles, suffering, and dehumanization that many African Americans had to go through honestly angered me. Even though we constantly learn about the Civil Rights Movement throughout our lives as students, I am always disturbed by the hatred and discrimination during this time. The ides of not only hating someone but also denying them of their rights simply because of there race is disgusting.  Thinking about this hatred makes me wonder how many anti-black pro-segregation people acts as normal people in our society today without anyone remembering their past. It also makes me think about how hypocritical the American people can be. Simultaneously calming to be the land of the free where all men are created equally while also treating people as second-class citizens.  

 

In this section I think you are trying too display the hardships African Americans went through in order to gain their rights. I think you are doing this to Show us that is we also persevere we can face injustice in today’s day.

Sincerely,

Morgan-Lee Blake

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oct 14

Dear John Lewis,

Sit In

http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2013/may/23/real-violence-50-years-ago-woolworth/

            I am writing you this letter because I recently read pages 25-80 of your book March. In this section of the book we see the struggles of African Americans as the fought for the right to vote. We follow you as you go to different protest like the sit ins at diners the were organized by SNCC and Freedom Day.  

There was also a mock election that was created so that Black people would have the chance to see what it was like to go through the voting process. We also see you meet with different civil rights leader like Fanny Lou Hamer and Ella Baker. Also, during this time President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated; this discouraged many voter rights activists because he drafted the Civil Rights Act. Luckily President Johnson decided to carry on his legacy by signing the Act into law. I as I read this, I was pretty numb; all my life I have been learning about these events and I’ve gotten to the point where I can’t even allow myself to fully feel the way this injustice makes me feel. When I think about the different types of discrimination black people have gone through, I tend to focus on how resilient the people of that time must have been and not how cruel and ignorant the oppressors of the time were; if I did, I would be in a constant state of rage. I think your intent was to display this resilience and show that in order to get change we must persevere. Even though I know these events to be true I often find myself wondering how people have the determination to withstand this kind of treatment and how any human being can treat people in such an awful way. I think that something we can learn from this story is that when we face injustice, we should continue to fight and be patient and diligent.

Sincerely,

Morgan-Lee Blake

 

Sep 23

 

Dear John Lewis,

I am writing you this letter in response to the opening section of your book March. In this section, the story begins with scenes from the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Mississippi which was a violent protest from white supremacist who were against black people trying to gain the right to vote; this occurred on the same day as a youth rally hosted by the church and four little girls were killed in the blast. We then see the funeral for the girls; this event led to chaos in the community which brought about a division which eventually lead to a police shooting and the murder on a young boy.

While reading this story, I couldn’t help but to notice the reflections of these events that we see in society today. The church bombing could be compared to the Charleston church shooting which was a mass shooting also committed by a white supremacist; nine African Americans were murdered during a prayer service at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina. Another example are the many cases of deadly police brutality instances of the years like the deaths of Sandra Bland, Freddie Gray, and Philando Castile. This gave me an uneasy feeling; I wondered why things like this are still possible given the many years of activism and progress that we have many as a country and is they will ever stop occurring. Was it your intent to have the audience make these connections?

Photo and Mugshot of Sandra Bland

Photo and Mugshot of Sandra Bland

Although I am still unsure if it is possible to fix these problems that are deeply rooted in the history of our country, I believe that if we as a country true acknowledge our wrong doings and treat racism as am unacceptable form of bigotry that has no place in our country; we can combat the issue in a productive way.

Sincerely,

Morgan-Lee Blake