Sindy Journey

Sindy is a Cambodian refugee who starts out in Freedom Writers in a large rivalry with another student named Eva. Sindy had struggled through life both in and outside of her home, she deals with rival gangs all day only to go home and have to protect her family from an abusive father. “During the war in Cambodia, the camps stripped away my father’s dignity. He sometimes tries to hurt me and my mom. I feel like I have to protect my family.” This was stated in Sindy’s journal that Mrs. Erin Gruwell (Mrs.G) gave to all of her students after they all played the line game. The line game was Mrs. G’s way of showing that they all had more in common than they would all admit, and it reveals a large part of Sindy’s past. During the game, Mrs. G. says “Who has been to jail or juvenile hall?”, in which Sindy asks “Does a refugee camp count?”, which Mrs. G. simply replies with “You decide.” Sindy then steps on the line. This scene is so important because it shows the other students another side of her that they had yet to see or know. Sindy is trapped in the shackles of

I still need to learn how to stop judging people by how they look. I don’t mean that I judge people by their skin color, but by how they dress and what kind of cloths they are in. Everyone should wear what they feel good in, wear what they want to without anyone telling them they shouldn’t. I would like to be more open minded, but it doesn’t help that my mother makes those comments all the time about how someone is dressed. Race plays more of a role in my life than I would like it to. I am a white female, so I am seen as both privileged and oppressed, privileged because I am white, oppressed because I am a woman. I want to break my chains of oppression, break the chains of privilege, I want to be defined by who I am, not by what I look like or what gender I