“Get on the Bus” released in 1966 and directed by Spike Lee, depicts many issues that Black people struggle with. The film is very blunt with the hardships Black people have faced for numerous years, and the film does this by speaking it’s truths through the characters. Each character in this film shares their own individual issue that heavily resonates within the Black community, even in the present. The film begins with introducing the main cast of characters that are all on their way to the Million Man March in Washington D.C by bus. Later on throughout the movie, each character shares their reasons for wanting to be apart of the Million Man March, this has led to the characters beliefs and back stories to be revealed, in which led to the main …show more content…
cast of characters constantly feuding with each other. One theme that was brought up during the movie was the issue of people being of mixed-ethnicity while inheriting Black genes. Though it is clear that Black people have many issues with many other opposing races, however there Black people have many issues among themselves. This includes interracial dating within the Black community and people who identify as multiracial while possessing Black heritage. The character Gary is a man who is of with Black and White heritage. While on the bus he was highly interrogated by the other people on the bus as to what his reasons are for being apart of the Million Race. The issue behind this was that people who are of mixed race are constantly questioned on their identities, and have their feelings dismissed for wanting to identify with one of their racial identities. Another issue presented in the film was the issue regarding gay Black men. There were two characters named Kyle and Randall that were a gay couple that were currently going through a break up. When their sexual orientations was found out by the other people of the bus they were shunned very heavily. The other people on the bus were emasculating Kyle and Randalls by using derogatory terms against them, as well as mock them for their sexual orientation. There is a hierarchy within the socialization of America, where White people are on the top of the pole while Black people are on the bottom. However it can be argued that being a Black dark-skinned female is worse than being a dark-skinned male, but what can also be argued is that being a homosexual man was worse than being a dark-skinned female. In a culture where Black men are believed to be intimidating figures spewing with testosterone and masculinity, being gay challenges those thoughts and makes people uncomfortable. There has been many cases of Black men being assaulted by other Black men just for their sexual preference. Another major societal issue presented by the film was White people who were allies of Black political movements.
In the beginning of the film the bus broke down and the passengers were stuck. A replacement bus arrived and the driver was White which made the passengers who were all Black feel uncomfortable. Strong language was used by the characters to describe their thoughts on having a White man drive them to the Million Man March. One passenger was insisting that Rick the bus driver was apart of a conspiracy where he prevents them from getting to the march, then another passenger expresses that they would rather not go to the march than have a White person take them there. Even though Rick was also Jewish, he was still very much harassed by the other passengers, in which ultimately led to him not feeling comfortable riding the bus anymore. There are many Black people who are not comfortable with accepting the help of their White counterparts, this maybe due to pride, or anxiety wondering what is the White person's true intentions on helping them. This causes there to be more racial tension among Black and White people where in this case there are White people who truly want to help end the inequality Black people
face. “Get on the Bus” was at some points arguably upsetting to see due to it’s presentations on hard truths of how society is for Black people. One of the main themes that can be interpreted from this film is that Black peoples issue is that we have a difficult time cooperating and working together to solve contemporary issues. The reason given by the film is that we as Black people focus too much on each others differences, instead of seeing the bigger picture that we’re all fighting the same fight and paying attention to the things that make us similar. In conclusion, “Get on the Bus”, did an excellent job in depicting the societal structures that Black people face on a daily basis. In order to get over a lot of this issues presented in the movie is if Black people learned to work together to defeat their oppressors, and learn it is okay to accept help sometimes from someone who truly cares for the causes we are fighting for.
...ing little room for imagination. It shows the negative effects that people will go through when under the thumb of society, it shows the importance of each, individual person being equal despite their variance. The Short Bus, is an important mark in Human Rights history; it is important because it accounts for people, people who have had very little representation prior and people who can now begin believing that their disability isn’t the end of who they are and can become. In relation to Human Rights, this is just another violation to peoples basic life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness that has guided this country for many years; it is a discrimination that needs to end and a discrimination that almost everyone has participated in at one point in their life.
Black liberation was stalled once again in 1961 and 1962, as white savagery reared its head again and black people were forced to deal with the reality that success was not inevitable, yet. Still more "sit-ins", "shoe- ins" were led to combat segregation in public places which were met with violent responses from some white people. These responses ranged from burning down a bus with black people to assaulting black passengers on a train car in Anniston. These racist white people also targeted other white people who were deemed as sympathizers to black struggle or "nigger lovers". Police refused to arrest the white aggressors and in some cases also refused to protect the black people. The Freedom Rides resulted in both losses and gains in the civil rights movement. People came to the realization that justice will not be won through merely trying to persuade Southern whites with peaceful protest but only "when
Throughout history, mankind has changed and been influenced by the acts of one another. Sociologists have studied the behaviors of humans and they have coined numerous terms, theories, and principles to try and describe why humans behave the way they do. In the movie West Side Story numerous sociological terms are depicted, such as labeling theory, social norms, formal and informal sanctions, and the results of what governs groups within society when all else fails.
The focus of the video documentary "Ain't Scared of your Jails" is on the courage displayed by thousands of African-American people who joined the ranks of the civil rights movement and gave it new direction. In 1960, lunch counter sit-ins spread across the south. In 1961, Freedom Rides were running throughout the southern states. These rides consisted of African Americans switching places with white Americans on public transportation buses. The whites sat in the back and black people sat in the front of the public buses. Many freedom riders faced violence and defied death threats as they strived to stop segregation by participating in these rides. In interstate bus travel under the Mason-Dixon Line, the growing movement toward racial equality influenced the 1960 presidential campaign. Federal rights verses state rights became an issue.
When the call went out in the summer of 1961 for volunteers to ride buses throughout the South to help integrate public transportation, a large percentage of the people who made a commitment to take on this dangerous assignment were Jews. To be exact, nearly two-thirds of the Freedom Riders were Jewish which is “quite an amazing feat for a minority which made up less than 2% of the entire American population” (Weinblatt 5). Although Jews and African Americans are two very distinct, and often opposing, cultural groups in our society, the great struggle to end racism in America meshed these two groups tightly together. Their shared motivations, expectations and experiences in dealing with white racists during the civil rights movement are amazingly similar, especially when they are compared in the writings of African American essayist and activist James Baldwin and the personal recollections of the Jewish Freedom Riders.
This documentary is based on Raymond Arsenault’s book “Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice”. It was a radical idea organized by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) that alarmed not only those who challenged the civil rights but also deliberately defied Jim Crows Law that were enacted between 1876 and 1965, by challenging the status quo by riding the interstate buses in the South in mixed racial groups. This law segregated public services like public transportation, public places, public schools, restrooms, restaurants, and even drinking fountains for black and whites. Though these activists were faced by various bitter racism, mob violence and imprisonment, they were successful in desegregating the buses and bus facilities in the Deep South in September 22, 1961. They strove for nonviolent protest for justice and freedom of African Americans freedom.
Sparked by the arrest of Rosa Parks in 1955, the Montgomery Bus Boycott was a political and social protest campaign that aimed for the desegregation of the bus systems in Montgomery, Alabama.[i] The organization revolved around the emerging civil rights leader and pastor Martin Luther King Jr. Three years later, King’s method of non-violent protests would inspire four students to begin the Greensboro sit-ins in North Carolina, which is regarded as one of the most significant demonstrations at the time.[ii] Many of the discriminatory practices during this time period stems from whiteness, which is a belief about entitlement and ownership for whites based solely on their skin color. The media utilizes rhetorical devices, such as analogy, polarizing
On May 4, 1961, the Freedom Riders left the safety of the integrated, northern city of Washington D.C. to embark on a daring journey throughout the segregated, southern United States (WGBH). This group of integrated white and black citizens rode together on buses through different towns to test the effectiveness of newly designed desegregation laws in bus terminals and areas surrounding them (Garry). Founded by the Congress of Racial Equality (Garry) , or CORE, the first two Freedom Ride buses included thirteen people as well as three journalists to record what would become imperative historical events in the Civil Rights Movement. This group of fifteen people would begin to emerge as an organization that would eventually reach 400 volunteers (WGBH). Those involved were mostly young, college students whose goal it was, as said by the CORE director James Farmer, to “…create a crisis so that the federal government would be compelled to enforce the law.” (Smith). But on their journey throughout these southern states, the Freedom Riders faced many challenges, threats, and dangers.
The reason the bus boycott succeed was because over half the bus riders were colored and when they stopped riding the bus the lost over half their money so they had to shut the busses down. Everything that everyone had been fighting for had finally happen, dreams finally came true, people were now equal no matter what color skin color they
Gross, Terry. "Get On the Bus: The Freedom Riders of 1961." NPR. NPR, n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.
All through time, the world has been racist and intolerant of people different from themselves. Countless millions have suffered due to the bigotry of people that couldn't understand change or differences among one another. There was a time when any soul that wasn't blue eyed and blonde haired in Germany, anyone with darker skin where immediately classed as inferior and not human. Even now, when you are not aware, racism is still a considerable problem. But sometimes it isn't one person being racist against another, but rather one person being racist against them self. The movie crash shows good examples of how racism against oneself, caused by fear and misunderstanding, is just as malevolent and evil as racism against another person. Fear is what makes people act racist. Farhad is one of many examples in the movie of a person who recognizes his own race and paralyzes himself through his own fear. Farhad believes that since he is Persian he is immediately being persecuted against and cheated. He flips out at the gun shop when the owner was insulting him which just furthers his fear of Americans. After the events on 9/11, which are referenced a lot in the movie, Farhad thinks that anyone who is Middle Eastern isn't welcome in America. Even after the gun shop owner was rude; his shop was destroyed by racist people who hated him. It is this same fear of being cheated because of his race that makes him very untrusting to people he doesn't know. He calls a lock smith to come fix his door because it won't lock. He immediately thinks that Daniel is trying to cheat him and steal money from him just because of his past endeavors.
The movie Easy A is certainly iconic in many different ways. First, the hit film gave one of the most well known movie stars, Emma Stone, her stardom. Second, although the movie is very controversial due to the sexual context, it has some valuable life lessons. I will be discussing three major conflicts that occur in the movie that include the spread of rumors, the consequences of lying and how exonerating the truth isn’t always easy.
Over 200,000 demonstrators participated in the March on Washington in the nation’s capital on August 28, 1963. The purpose of the march was to gain civil rights for African Americans. There was a wide diversity in those who participated, with a quarter of all the demonstrators being white (Ross). Even southern people came to contribute, which caused them to be harassed and threatened for coming to the march. The March on Washington became a very successful event for the rights of African Americans, and amended several peoples’ view-points towards the topic, even President John Kennedy’s.
The children’s short story Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems has many good qualities, including character and audience interaction, simplistic illustrations, and excellent examples of a dialogue- driven plot. Readers will be intrigued with this short story. The criteria chosen in critiquing this book, demonstrates how well the story interacted with the reader, and how this book succeeded in keeping the attention of its audience.
When we see around us we see that we all are in the most advanced and technical world. We are in the 21st century where we consider ourselves the most modest and civilized people. But, I think the more we are modernized and enlightened, the more we are becoming narrow minded about race. According to me, in today’s world race is not only about color now, it is more about the upper class and lower class. We human beings are known as the most smartest of all the organisms, but our smartness is leading us to create and build differences between our own human race. Other animals and organisms with whom we share this planet and the ones from whom the species human came, never show these attitudes towards their other members. Firstly, in this