When being a young teen you are often curious about the world and what is ahead of you. When I was a teen I often thought about sports, academics, and what my future would be like. Conversations I would have with my parents would usually consist of sporting events to come, what interests I had outside of athletics, and my academics. Other than that I was just a young teenager excited for what was to come. I didn't have many fears other than heights and the Steelers not winning the super bowl. I can gratefully say that as a young white teen I had it pretty good. Unfortunately not everyone can say they were in as great of a situation I was in. In relation to the story "Between the World and Me" Coates' son was in a completely different situation. I can't imagine being Coates or his son in this situation. I'm not sure if it would be harder to go through all of the hardships that Coates did or to be Coates and have to explain to his son what is ahead of him. It had to have been so hard for him to explain to his son that he is already at a severe disadvantage because of how he looks. His son at the age of fifteen already had to see the deaths of Tamir Rice and Renish McBride, and that the ones responsible are not held accountable. In addition, with the situation surrounding Michael Brown Coates' son was very upset and even more upset about the fact that the authority let the killers free. He is worried that his son only thinks of injustice as what happened to Michael Brown, not also the fact that there is racism throughout America in general. In Conclusion, it is evident that my young teen experiences and Coates sons young teen experiences are complete opposites simply due to the injustices of American Americans in the United States.
Freedom Riders 3/26
As I watched the “Freedom Riders” documentary, the more disgusted I become at that racial injustices in American history. At the beginning of the documentary, there is a small montage of bigots giving poor excuses as to why the South should remain segregated. However, there was one quote that stuck out that stated, “You can not change a way of life overnight. The more they try to force us into doing something, the worse the reaction is going to be.” Racism should not be a way of life anyone wants to live through or put onto someone else. The Freedom Riders and many nonviolent protesters weren’t physically imposing on others, so why was the reaction of segregationists to worsening as “they try to force” them into a realistic way of life? Watching the documentary and listening to how the Riders were willing to be martyrs for the Movement as they were physically attacked, their property was destroyed via molotov and mentally drained daily makes me appreciate activism a great deal more, ...
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