Freedom writers' diary

I would like to invite Nelson Mandela because he's a great activist for black civil rights and because he has a nice first name.
We would learn about the situation of black people in South Africa.

When you read a book you can learn a lot of things you can't learn in your background. You can see that different people have the same experiences as you. The freedom writers learned that they're not the only people who have a hard and dangerous life.

When there are stereotypes, people who don't agree with these stereotypes are excluded. Different people are juged based on stereotypes and not for what they really are.



Freedom writers are Black, Asian, Latino, Caucasian.
The hood is dangerous and poor. There are gang wars and there aren't any ways out.

As usual, the students' parents don't care about their children. Example: diary 22: "noone, including my dad, pays attention to me."

Diary 12: "Juvenile homes are scary. I cried the first night."

In diary 13, the writer says: "we began to understand the true meaning of not judging a book by its cover." I think this sentence can be applied to people. "Not judging somebody by his apparence." "L'habit ne fait pas le moine."

There are racial tensions, gang wars, school problemes and drug problems. People are poor.


In diary 6, the writer talks about his experience about death: "A couple of days ago, one of my friend was laid to rest." It's a strong passage, I didn't feel good when I read it, I was shocked. I learned that a lot of people are killed in the "hood" without reason.

I think Mrs Gruwell questions everything because there are answers. However, the students can't accept these answers