Freedom Riders

The Freedom Riders documentary was very eye-opening to me. These courageous men and women risked everything, from their reputation to their life, in order to help advocate for change. I constantly was putting myself in the time period of the 1960’s, and asking myself what I would have done. The Freedom Riders had to be strong and willing to get hit without hitting back. As we discussed in class, it takes a lot for a person to constantly be called names, hit, shoved, and spit on without fighting back. These people fighting for their own rights that everyone deserves had no protection. The battles they faced everyday would have terrified me, from the mobs in Birmingham to the Ku Klux Klan roaming throughout the towns in the deep South. This hatred of the Freedom Riders and of African-Americans in general spread like a disease. Before the Freedom Riders even got to their destination, mobs had plans on how they were going to welcome them. The violence that the mob showed in media only helped the Freedom Riders, though. Luckily enough, the media showed the brutality and the pure racism in the South. Publicity of this violence showed the Southern way of life. The second time the Freedom Riders came, the mobs main goal was to destroy the cameras to avoid the publicity, though. Bull Connor avoided the media the second time the Freedom Riders by covering up the windows of stores and restaurants with newspapers. The fact that Bull Connor could get away with enforcing these hate crimes instead of preventing them is disgusting. It is important to think of all people influenced by this movement, including the African-Americans who suffered directly, the white people who helped fight for equal rights, and even the bus drivers. Even an United States official got beaten. All in all, the Freedom Riders were very brave and I know I would not be strong enough to go through what they went through.

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