The Freedom Riders documentary was well-made and illuminating in its effort to share a linear account of the Freedom Rides of 1961. The juxtaposition of the white passengers singing joyously in a Greyhound bus commercial and the accounts of Freedom Riders and historians was particularly arresting and ironic; here were black Americans being gassed and beaten for riding these busses in the deep south while their companies promoted a sense of harmony, luxury, and white tranquility. The lack of protection provided for the Freedom Riders on their journey was - quite frankly - absurd; mobs of white men were afforded ample time and opportunity to perform mass acts of violence on the incoming riders before the intervention of police. The documentary notes that the Kennedy administration eventually sent in the National Guard to protect the riders, but this was only after much begging, forcing, and public spectacle and outreach took place. The administration’s reluctance to recognize the efforts of the Freedom Riders and the movement toward civil rights in general was surprising to learn about; shouldn’t foreign affairs have been secondary to the internal plight of the country? It is disheartening to see just how much effort and publicity it took on the part of nonviolent black protestors to be heard and validated by their own country and government; the administration should’ve been more embarrassed for their negligence and hesitance as news of racial tensions circulated around the world and into countries that were otherwise encouraged to believe in “American exceptionalism.” The hypocrisy that looms over white America’s response to racial tension is incredibly palpable within this documentary.

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