Freedom Riders

Watching the Freedom Riders’ documentary was truly an eye opener for me. In highschool, we were not taught what actually went down on those rides in the 1960s. We are only given a brief summary. Until watching this video, the only thing I knew about the Freedom Riders is that they were a group of African Americans, I didn’t even know there were white people involved, that rode on buses down into the deep south to try and stop segregation where needed be. The fact that we are not taught the traumatizing experiences these people went through is just unbelievable to me. These people deserve to be recognized for their bravery and persistence. Watching this video, I realized how much these people sacrificed to take part in these rides. Many of them postponed their educations to go on these rides. Not only were they sacrificing their education, they are also putting their lives on the line. They knew that they were probably going to be beaten, ridiculed, and maybe killed, and they still volunteered to go. That all in itself shows their commitment and how hard they believed in this movement. In addition to that, some of the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement didn’t want anything to do with these rides. King and CORE both thought it was way too risky because it challenged segregation frontally and it would get way too violent. And it did. The one event that stood out to me the most is when Bull Connor allowed the Klu Klux Klan to do whatever they wanted to the Freedom Riders for fifteen minutes without any police intervention. Also, the FBI knew about this and did nothing. This showed me how little people cared about African Americans in the 1960s. It also showed me that the root of the problem was not the everyday white person, but the leaders of this country. It became evidently clear to me that white people were blind to racism in the 1960s and were so afraid of change that they had to resort to that kind violence.  

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