Ain't Scared of Your Jails

Nonviolent protests

                  I was incredibly impressed with the group that put together and participated in these nonviolent protests. I do remember learning just a little bit about these protests in my past years of schooling. I just never realized how organized and smart they were though. It really impressed me how mature and brave they were, even when being attacked by bitter people. They were smart about how to really get to the government without having to physically harm anyone. Boycotting the stores downtown was genius, just like the bus boycott. They really got to the people and government by not going downtown and giving them business.

            Another part of the documentary that stood out to me was when they interviewed a mother whose son was arrested during these nonviolent protests. She described the moment when she got a call from him, in jail, and he told her to “be cool.” The mother was crying but laughing at the same time in this interview. She talked like you had to be there to hear how he said it. He was so relaxed about the fact that he was in jail. It just shows that they didn’t care. The bigger issue at hand was more important to them to fight for.

            I learned that it is necessary to fight for what you believe in! But when I say fight, it doesn’t have to be physical. You can get a message across by being smart and mature and fighting your conflict a different way.

Ain't Scared Of Your Jails

This video was really interesting, and although I have heard about many non violent protests in the 1950's and 1960's; I haven't really gone in depth and seen how everything works in detail. What really struck me most about this was much more involved the students were with desegregation than the normal black adults. I think this is what made so many of their plans successful, having the youth get involved. So much so, that they created the SNCC ( Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee). In this committee Diane Nash was the leader and she committed herself into getting the issue of segregation up to high authorities. At one point she asked the Mayor of Nashville, mayor West about how he felt about the issue of discrimination. She said to him, "do you feel it is wrong to discriminate someone based solely on their race or color"? He replied that it was wrong and that he would answer that the same way every time. This was a major turning point in the movement against segregation. There were many tactics the college students used in their plans to end discrimination. This really surprised me becasue I just thought they just stood there and ignored the people harassing  them. But there was much more than that, for example they actually set up fake situations in where they had to practice how to react in those situations. And even in tough situations where the black community faced obstacles they still fought through it. In times like when the the communities main lawyer's house was bombed, the community transferred that tragedy into positive energy and kept moving on with there non violent protests. The government got involved also. Especially in the political campaign with Kennedy and Nixon. They both felt the same way about the segregation but they didn't want to do anything to drastic to spur up violence and up-roar with the white people. But when MLK was put in jail, Kennedy felt the need to do something so at first her at least call his wife with sympathy. And then he called the judge to get King out of jail, which ultimately proved to be successful especially in his campaign. There was a risk for Kennedy becasue he didn't want to loose his white votes. This video was very detailed and really showed everything the blacks went through and everything they did to get their equal rights.

Samira's response to ASOYJails

Non-violent protest

This was a very interesting documentary and very inspirational one in many different ways. The thing that I thought was most encouragement was the whole movement was led by young black college students who lead by example and their example like the counter sit-ins and non-violent protests spread quickly and peacefully from their side. In addition, most of them were brutally attacked and public humiliated but they still had their sense of humor and looked the long-term goal of “achieving equality”.  

            Moreover, in todays world there is violence going on everywhere but some things we can learn from the courage the young teens showed is patience and to stand up what’s right even if it’s against the statue quo of society by means of non violence actions. Also, my most memorable quote from the movie is when the guy said, “We will take hitting. We will take beating,” because it showed these were people determine for freedom for everyone. 

Randi Stout

English 1110.03 Mon/Wed 10:10

Mike Lohre 

December 21st 2013

          I am absolutely amazed by this movement! I really enjoyed learning about the "sit-ins." I think it's incredible that these were led by college students! I feel as if these students were very brave and truly believed that society was wrong for going along with segregation. They had a passion for starting a movement and making the world right! Even though more than 80 protestors were charged with disorderly misconduct, nothing would stop these students! One student said, "The first sit-in was funny because the waitresses were nervous. They must have dropped 2,000 dollars worth in dishes." I like how despite what was happening to these students, they could still find humor and passion for what they were doing. Martin Luther King Jr said, "We are not afraid and we will overcome." This quote stands out to me the most because it proves how determined The Freedom Writers were to press for their freedom. They were't afraid of what would happen to them as long as they made a statement to the rest of the world. I think they did just that, many of years later we still learn of this movement and learn from their actions.

       I think the people after this movement learned to honor what they think is right. These people proved to the world that it is possible to make a statement in a non-violent way. Violence isn't always the key to pushing what you think is right. The Freedom Writers proved, as long as you have passion and perseverance, you don't need violence to to produce one of the most significant movements in the century.

        

I thought this was a good movie and describes in good detail how the student movement was in the civil rights era. I have no heard of this before although, when I watched this movie it made me realize how brave these students were. The thing that stood out to me in the film was how the black college students refused to leave the lunch area without getting served. I think what they did there is that they showed leadership and they were not causing any harm. I think that we can learn from this by standing up to our rights with out any violence being caused.

Non-Violent protest

The film regarding the non-violent protests and Montgomery bus boycott was one of the most interesting things I have watched in a while. What most intrigued me about this was the way the people in the movement were organized and how they were treated when they tried to change something that to us is wrong but seemed ok in the time.  One thing that we can learn from this is that violence is not always the way to solve problems sometimes you can fix and move toward the best result by being peaceful and simply expressing your discontent.  One quote that really stood out to me was when one of the arrested demonstrators told his mother in jail to “be cool” it just stood out me and showed how going to jail was just part of the bigger picture and didn’t bother the demonstrators.

Ain't Scared of Your Jails

I thought this movie was really interesting, and although I have heard of nonviolent protest, I had no idea how well organized and how incredibly intelligent and strategic it actually was. They knew how to act in ways the would hurt local government, which would hurt state government and on and on up the line. In the film Leo Lillard says, 

"Someone developed the idea of, "Let's stop spending money downtown." And basically it was like the bus boycott. "Let's stop supporting the system we're trying to change." The bus boycott in Nashville, primarily focused on the Nashville downtown stores, the Nashville retail merchants. We figured that if they would feel the pinch of not having shoppers buy in the stores downtown Nashville, then that will put pressure on the mayor, on the political fabric of town, of Nashville, to change the rules, the regulations."

 Similar to Fredrick Douglass in the late 1800's the blacks used their intelligence and strategy to prove to the bigoted whites of the south that they were of equal importance, and equal intelligence. The boycotters and freedom riders were there to prove that they were part of the same human race that the whites were. 

It is incredible that essentially one group of people could spread a movement across a country that could transform the way a government writes law. If there is one thing that we can learn from this video, it should be that, it is an amazing democracy we live in, where free speech and our power to demonstrate protest can ignite a wave of change throughout the entire nation. If there is something that is important to us we have the right to speak out about it, and that is exceptionally fortunate, compared to other countries in the world.