I suppose you should know a little bit about me. First, I am white. I was born in 1952 and grew up in Chicago. I was part of a wonderful Christian Baptist family. I love my parents, and I loved my church, my school, and my community. During high school, african-american students started attending the same classes as me. It was...different. I wasn't sure what to think. I liked it, but I didn't really befriend anyone. Earlier this year I turned 16 and now I attend nursing school. It was at this school that I became aware of the civil rights movement, and really started listening to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It was then that I realized what my purpose was.
When I first enrolled in school, I was still young and innocent. I had yet to see the true horrors of our society. A culture that refuses to serve people coffee simply because their skin is darker. As a child in a Christian family, we told that God created everyone; that he loves everyone. But, as a young adult who truly believes this, you start to see the hypocrites living all around you. They talk of love, but their 'love' is shallow. Their love of humanity only extends to those that have similar appearance to them. How was a young girl supposed to react? I don't know how one should react, but I know how I reacted. I decided that I needed to become a voice for freedom and equality. Clinging to every word of Dr. King, I fully believe in them. Even though he is now dead, my heart still rings with the words he spoke. My purpose is to fight for freedom, liberty and rights for the black people around me, and that is what I will do.
They are men, they are humans and we should treat them as such.
However, one person will never be enough to make any change, and that is why I am writing. I am not the only one, but we need more voices, calling to congress, yelling to lawmakers, "We need freedom in this country, we need equality!" I do, however, think that apart from just changing only the laws, we need to change our cultures thoughts from that of, "Blacks are unequal to us and barely human, hardly worth our countries resources and investment," to that of love. Love and recognition that they are humans, and we, as a society, are cruel monsters towards them. When people kick around a dog, they told they are mean hearted and questioned as to why they would hurt an innocent creature. When someone beats up a black man, it is as though nothing even happened. What kind of people put dogs before man-kind, their own brothers? This is why I am writing, this is why I am screaming from the rooftops, "Freedom, Equality!"
Our society needs to change, and not just a little bit. It took months of dark-skinned men and women continually sitting at "the white counters" in cafes, and our small victory was that they were finally served their cup of coffee. Really? I cannot comprehend how our society has gotten to this horrific point. The point where we consider our county free, yet we refuse to serve black people coffee. How one stand it? I cannot. I will scream and shout, march and stand, cheer, and fight. I am white, and, as sorrowful as this is, some people are more inclined to listen to me. If we can have enough people, black and white, fighting for equal rights, we can change our society.
So, join me. Join me in this cause and let your voice be heard! Let the words of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. ring in your ears. Let the stories of black peoples trials in our 'free' country set you heart on fire. Join me in marching, in screaming, in fighting, in making a change. Join me in the cause for civil rights.
After studying this week about the civil rights movement, I think it is something that, if I had grown really lived in the 1960's, I would've become really impassioned for. The biggest take away for me is that, in the 1960's, people got together and tried to change some things they felt were wrong in our county. Looking around at our society today, there are things I see that I think we could, and should, try to change. Maybe, if we looked back and saw how the people in the 1960's got their point across, we would maybe get somewhere.
I am a child of the 21st century. I once saw a teenager post that read, "I have lived in three decades, two centuries, and 2 millenium, and I haven't even graduated high school yet." It is true. But, as a young adult of the 21st century, I don't know much about the recent history of my own country. Most people know the stereotypes about the 80's, all disco and crazy fashion, and the 70's were groovy. However, the 60's isn't really that well known, it doesn't even have a stereotype. In fact, the 1960's were a turning point for the whole country, and greatly influenced in our culture, even now we still can see the effects of the 1960's in our culture. The best way to learn about this time period isn't through books, movies, or even the music, but rather through the eyes of people who grew up during that time.
I was able to interview two people from my life who lived during the 1960's: Doug Dahl and Pastor Emmanuel Malone. They were both teenagers during the decade, and both had unique experiences. Pastor Malone was a young african-american who dreamed of being an engineer. Doug Dahl was young in 1960, and eventually ended up fighting in the Vietnam War. While I talked to them, what they said was different, but the underlying idea was very similar; The 1960's were a time of change, both good and bad.
(A video of a famous Beatles song, Here Comes the Sun, along with pictures.)
Emanuel Malone is the pastor my church, All Nations Baptist, and was 15 in 1960. When I asked him what he remembered from that time of his life, what events that were going on, he first commented music changed. "There is a dramatic shift in terms of music...and that was very, very big. Because the music addressed kind of what teenagers were going through." Music changed in the 60's, with the Beatles and The Beach Boys. The style became known as Rock'n'Roll. He then continued, saying that, while the launch of Sputnik happened a little before the 60's (in 1957), the space race, really influenced his life. At the age of twelve, he decided he wanted to be an engineer, and that dream carried him for the next few years. He said that because of the that dream, he stayed back a little bit from the civil rights movement. He described to me that there were really two sides of the movement, the non-violent side which really was led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, and the violent side, which involved groups like the Black Panthers. He mentioned that he lost two friends to the Civil Rights Movement. One died at a riot, the other, a friend from college, hijacked a plane to Cuba. "That really affected my thoughts on Radicalism," Pastor noted. Finally, he mentioned the drug culture as something that he really remembers from that time. "It was very, very evident and apparent."
Civil Rights movement, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is leading the group.
Doug Dahl is my grandpa, and was 11 in 1960. I asked him the same question as Pastor Malone; what experiences did he remember from the 1960's? He said that he first remembered three, "horrific" assassinations: John Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr, and Robert Kennedy. And second he remembered the Vietnam War. "The war touched everything—people who went and didn’t come back; people who went and came back physically or psychologically damaged; people who didn't go, but lost family members or friends; people who protested, went to jail, or left the country." The Vietnam War lasted for twenty years and really was the second of two wars in Vietnam. America started fighting in the war with the intent of preventing South Vietnam from becoming Communist. It was a bloody war resulting in the death of 58,220 Americans. My Grandpa actually fought in the Navy in this war.
Protesters against the War.
One of the other questions I asked both of Pastor Malone and Grandpa Dahl was, if they had to describe the 1960's to someone who knew nothing about it in a paragraph or so, what would they say? My Grandpa, in his response, told me that his son (my uncle) once asked him, if he could describe his generation in three words? "Self-absorbed morons," was his quick reply. I have included both of their full responses to this question at the end of the post.
The 1960's was a time of great change, both good and bad. Music changed, which spurred the sexual revolution. There was the civil-rights movement, three assassinations, and the Vietnam War. I wish I was able to do justice this dramatic time period, but in only one small essay, I found there just couldn't be enough room. :) I was blessed by getting to talk to these two people and even briefly learn about the decade that forever changed the direction of our nation.
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I am putting copies of the answer of one question I asked: In paragraph or so how would you describe the 60's to someone with little context.
Doug Dahl:
Wow. Where to begin? The 1960s were a tumultuous time from many directions. The summary description a lot of people use is “sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll.” That’s not far off. Besides the Viet Nam War, with all its implications, the country was undergoing a sexual revolution. That great liberator of womankind, the birth-control pill, hit the market. Marijuana and LSD became very popular, and a lot of my contemporaries followed Dr. Timothy Leary’s admonition: “Tunein, turn on, drop out.”
The college campus became the perfect venue for these social contortions to take root. College enrollment exploded, largely because college provided an escape from the military draft. People had money to spend and time on their hands. It was a time for casting off social restraints: religion, tradition, patriotism. Suddenly, life was all about my desires, my goals, my fulfillment, my “self-actualization.” The term “Me Generation” fits aptly. Several years ago, Caleb, breaking away from a conversation with some of his friends, challenged me: “Describe your generation in three words.” My immediate response: “Self-absorbed morons.” In truth, the self-absorbed morons were the minority. But they were a substantial minority, and they got all the press. They now control all of our cultural institutions, and the results aren't pretty. Pastor Emanuel Malone: (A follow-up email he sent to me.)
The 60's were more than a decade (1960 - 1969). It was a movement of radical cultural change that swipe the nation from 1955 - late 1970's. Key events 1955, Rosa Parks, her arrest launched the Civil Rights movement, 1957 Russian launch of Sputnik, launched national promotion of science and engineering, 1960 Democrat Convention riot, the Vietnam War, rock music and drug culture (Woodstock, 1969), riots in major US cities with the chant - "burn baby burn", and student protests on American college campuses that continued into the 70's. I remember all those events from the age of 10 (1955) and later.
Communist, a USSR film that came out in 1960, is about a communist man named Gubanov and how he worked to help Zagora, a small russian town. The movie takes place during the Russian Revolution and Lenin's rule. Lenin was trying to build power plants all over Russia. One of the most important of these was Zagora. Gubanov was key in helping Lenin's cause. He was portrayed as hero, who ending up sacrificing his life trying to help the starving people of Zagora. Communist is wonderful example of propaganda in Russian cinema because the way it heroically portrayed the main character who was to be a communist.
The movie has a very clear message for the audience about communism: communism is good. However, if you examine the storyline of the film closely, it is obvious that there is more to that there are trying to say then it's just being good. It involves sacrifice, guts, and a stick-to-it nature. The movie suggests, through the story, that being a communist is best because the main character gets the girl, and the praise and the glory for his sacrifices. (He also gets murdered, but he really accomplished so much, and he died a hero's death, so that doesn't really matter, right? It the sacrifice that counts.:) Communism's core belief was much more about the people as a whole, then the individual. Before Gubanov died he helped the people as a whole by getting them nails when there was a shortage, helping manage the construction of the power plant, and by finding and bringing a train full of grain to the starving village of Zagora. Besides that, he saved the women he loved from being beaten by her husband. He sure was a hero, wasn't he?
Gubanov, the hero of Zagora! The communist!
By casting a hero's light on the communist in the movie, it makes communism seem appealing. But the things is the this, it a political view. Only a political view. Being a communist doesn't make you a hero, just like being a democrat, republican or independent doesn't make you a evil. Having Communism as a political belief, and belonging to the Communist Party may sculpt and shape your world view, but that isn't going to automatically make you hero. This is why the film Communist is propaganda. Because it leads the audience to the conclusion that if you were a communist, you would be a hero. So, what is communism's political beliefs?
Spoiler alert...he dies....like every other Russian movie.... :)
The Communist Party was a political party that ruled Russia from the early 1900's to the 1990's. The core beliefs of this political view were based off of Marxism, and basically it is an extreme form of Socialism. However, there are a few stark differences between Communism and Socialism. For example, Communism works toward super-abundance whereas socialism strives to distribute the wealth. Another key difference is religion, while Socialism promotes secularism, Communism renounces all religion. Besides that, the political system is very different. In a Communist country, all decisions are made by a group of people behind closed doors. In the majority of Socialist countries, there is a participatory democracy. However, when it comes to the way society is structured, Communism takes what Socialism would do, and makes it slightly more extreme. While Socialism diminishes class distinctions, Communism strives to completely abolishes them. These are just a few of the differences between Communism and Socialism.
Communist came out in 1960 and is a USSR film about a man named Gubanov who was a communist. As the protagonist of the film, he is portrayed as a hero. The movie Communist a spot-on example of Russian propaganda in cinema because of the what it tells the audience think about being a communist: how heroic you can be as a communist. However, aside from this, Communist is an intriguing Russian story of perseverance, love, and sacrifice.
The Forty First is a USSR film which first debuted in Russia in 1959. It tells the story of a woman soldier, and her male prisoner, with whom she falls in love with. Traveling through a desert, and then becoming shipwrecked on an island with only the two of them, their love seemed inevitable. However, it ends the lead character shooting her prisoner/lover. But, The Forty First is more than just a tragic love story. It actually is a great picture of what the role of women in Soviet Russia was, as well as a balanced story and also part of the story of the civil war in Russia. All of this was done while still following the strict regulations on Soviet films at the time.
Marutka, the best sniper in her group.
Russian women, in theory, were just as equal as men. This is because while the men were fighting in World War I, women took over many of the jobs that had previously been filled by men. While the men were away, it was a woman's job not only to nurture, and care for the family, but also to go to work and provide for the family, as well as discipline the children. They did this very well, and with much ease. In 1917, the November Revolution proclaimed that soviet women now had all the same rights as men had, including political and economic. This led to the Bolshevik government making women's rights a high priority. This was a popular move, and in theory, women were able to do everything that a man could. But it didn't always work out like that. There was a bit of confusion that was be felt by women, because they were they could be everything: a nurturer, a citizen, a worker. They could be whatever they wanted, but they still were expected to do certain things. The movie, The Forty First, navigated these tricky waters by creating a women lead who was in the army. She was hard, and able to kill just as easily as the men. In fact, she was the best sniper in her team. However, when she and her prisoner were stuck on an island, and he became sick, she nursed him back to health. It showed that, while she was still just as able as a man, she also was tender-hearted, and caring, like a woman was supposed to be. She also got into an argument with her prisoner/lover about why she fights in the war, and why it is a cause worth fighting. It shows that she is a citizen, who fights for what she believes in.
Marutka, the nurturer. Nursing back to health her sick prisoner. "I am not some beast to let a man die." She is nurturing woman, as well as a fierce fighter.
A frustrating thing about the movie is the way it resolves. In the last 90 seconds, the lead character ends up shooting her lover. It left me feeling a little confused, and shocked. But, after a little thought, I think this is the way they had to end the movie because of the regulations that filmmakers had in Soviet Russia. In the end, she chose her cause, her war, over her love. It showed that in Soviet Russia, the number one ideal was not love or romance, but rather the cause of the people, the cause of the government, etc. The way the film ended was mostly because of the need to balance fantasy, with Soviet realism. In Soviet film, it couldn't be all fantasy, it had to be at least a little more 'real'. The Forty First balanced the fantasy of romance and love, with the realism of her killing the man at the end. Also, there is more realism than just the way the movie ends. Because it move took place in a war setting, it also showed the realities of war: killing, dying, hardship, pain. In my opinion, the writers were able to create a compelling story, while still meeting the standards that the Soviet Union placed on film industry.
Finally, The Forty First takes place during the Russian Civil War. Having not known much about it before, there was very little I could've learned from the content in the film. But, there were a few things I picked up. There were two sides to the war, the Reds and Whites. They were fighting each other. It was all in Russia. I think I would've better understood the movie if I had known more about the war first.
The Forty First was a great Soviet film about a women sniper, who had killed 40 men from the enemy army. She missed what would've been the 41, and he became a prisoner, and was put under her charge. Through a turn of events, they end up shipwrecked on an island together. At the very end of the movie, she ends up shooting him, her forty first kill. This tragic love story was more than just that because it showed how complex a woman's role was in Soviet Russia. The writers were able to create a compelling story, while still adhering to the stiff regulations of the Soviet era.
