Freedom Writers: Oppression & Poverty

A perfect example of a movie that demonstrates how poverty and feelings of oppression affect school violence is “Freedom Writers.” In this movie a 23 year old teacher named Erin Gruwell takes on the challenge of teaching at a school full of gang affiliated students. These students had been written off by their school as hopeless cases but she tried to change that and get through to them by buying them new books such as Anne Frank and believing in them.

Throughout the movie many of the students situations are shown. Eva, a Hispanic girl in a gang, was at a shooting in a convenience store and knows that her boyfriend Paco killed the man in the store. Her father is in jail for gang affiliated reasons as well. Because of this, her father tells her that she needs to lie in court in order to stay loyal to the gang. If she does not do this, her and her family will no longer be protected or respected. She ends up telling the truth and when she gets to school the next day she gets beat up by the gang. She then has to move because she is not safe.

Eva was so worried about staying safe that she had no time to worry about school. All she had time to worry about was her safety and her survival which is how almost all the kids in Erin Gruwells class felt. All the kids were segregated based on gang affiliation and they all got into massive fights during school that resulted in everyone being sent home. The poverty these kids lived him forced them to join gangs to feel that they were protected and wanted. They had no other choice, especially when their families pressured them. With this in mind, they were taught to be violent in school and protect their “turf.” Although this movie shows how one teacher changed all that for one class, she couldn’t do it for the entire school which gives us as viewers a good look at what poverty can do to children.

With this in mind, the movie also contrasts poverty and middle class by placing a white middle class student in the class with these gang affiliated students. He is uncomfortable and doesn’t fit in. The gang affiliated students resent him because he is white and doesn’t live the harsh lives that they live. He is deathly afraid of all the students in his class because they are so violent. This doesn’t change until Mrs. Gruwell brings them all together.

Imagine the students who don’t have a teacher to bring them together and bring out their potential. They are just written off with no one to look after them. They stay in gangs and bring this violence to school because they know nothing else. Since no one believes in them, they find it hard to believe in themselves. Violent behavior becomes a part of their lives. They feel like this is the best they can do so they don’t try to get out. In these students minds, they do not have a choice.