March Book One Reflection
This section of The March Comic Book was pretty brutal. The beginning of the second book started off with John Lewis at The House of Representatives waiting to be seated for a ceremony in Washington D.C. On the next page, the reader learns that John Lewis rarely goes home due to his damaged relationship with his parents after getting arrested. However, John Lewis is a part of the group called The Freedom Riders in Nashville that feels more like home to him than his actual home. This part of the comic was a little hard to understand because I felt like it jumped around a lot. For example, it started in 2009 and flashed back to 1960. However, this part of the comic talked a lot about the horrible things done to African Americans who were trying to peacefully gain racial equality simply by trying to buy movie tickets or sitting down in an all white restaurant. None of these ended well because a lot of African Americans were arrested and beat up very badly. In addition, when the African American’s sat in an all white restaurant, they were locked in there while a fumigator going off which was used to kill pests. If that doesn’t show how cruel these white people were, I don’t know what will. I feel like the main part of this section was about freedom riders where a group of African Americans and even a couple of white people traveled from Washington D.C. all the way to New Orleans. One thing that caught my eye was that these freedom riders passed through Farmville which I thought was pretty interesting. However, this was not an ordinary trip. These people signed wills not knowing if they would make it back home from the South. A lot of African Americans and white people who were freedom riders were beat up and arrested after having their buses lit on fire by white supremacists. Lastly, I have learned and heard about the Freedom Riders in the past but never knew that John Lewis was a part of it nor did I know that there were white people included in this as well. If I could find anything good out of this, I was happy that these Freedom Riders had at least some white people on their side to help them fight for racial equality.
After reading pages 61-121 of march I noticed some things that stuck out at me. The first thing being the correlation of the civil rights movement, and the black lives matter protest. Another thing is how people and Senator John Lewis handled the protest and discrimination. The last being the similarities of events that happened during before/during the civil rights movement, and the black lives matter movement. The marches on Washington D.C. were are crucial role and part of the civil rights movement which again happened as part of the BLM protests. Both events involved people from all parts of the U.S. to show up and march and speak their mind. A positive thing to highlight with the BLM protests, is that people of all races, ethnicities, and backgrounds showed up to march and show solidarity to the black community. The artwork, music, and other products that came from both movements is also a commonality. The racism and hatred that John Lewis and and others faced was sickening to read about. During John and others protest, they were spit on, physically hit, had things thrown at them etc. Although this heinous display of actions occurred, John and others remained poised and controlled which is something I could never do. There are still heinous acts that happen today not as much but still happen none the less and that is also a crime itself. The last things that stood out was things that happened before/during the two movements. One of them being individuals being murdered or physically harmed for no reason. Cases like George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery were murders that should never have happened just like Emmett Till. The events to spark both movements should never have happened, and unfortunately did and caused these movements for change, and for the better. This section of march really showed and along with the overall text will continue to show and display the similarities of both movements.
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After reading March Book One pages 62-122 I now know a bit more details about what really went on during the time of Martin Luther King Jr, John Lewis, and Thurgood Marshall. Social Gospel was a social movement within Protestantism. In my opinion Social Gospel is the use of Christian principles to social problems. An example of the impact of Social Gospel can be the change to labour reforms of the 1930s where child labour, shorter work weeks, and factory regulation issues were resolved. These were just a few of the peoples concerns. Social Gospel relates to Book One of March because of the social injustice, economic inequality, and poverty. In March Book One it explains how John Lewis couldn’t stop thinking about the Social Gospel where he took the path of non-violence to make a change for not just personal reform but for social reform. My definition of Social Gospel relates to my life when my mother uses her faith in Christ for strength to help her through the rough times. Another example can be my father using the word of God to calm his mind and soul to keep his social issues in line. Social Gospel relates to the world we live in now how people pray and protest under Christianity for changes in women’s right, changes in police brutality, or even stopping the spread of hate by loving Jesus. I feel as though I am literate in Social Gospel but I don’t necessarily apply it to my everyday life. This is honestly just from growing up and only being shown Christianity so when I was able to make my own opinions on religion I felt different than most Christians. In my opinion Social Gospel can be have many different meanings it just depends on the individuals perception. #themarathoncontinues
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It was February 1961 in Nashville, Tn and the movie playing was Cecil B Demille’s, The Ten Commandments NTS. Tennessee was a southern state during the freedom riders act against segregation.
In this scene people of color were denied the right to movie tickets at a majority white theatre to see a christian movie about the Ten Commandments. As they were refused the right to tickets they would continuously get back in line for another chance. The tactic being used by the workers of the ticket booth was derived from students in Texas. The ticket booth workers would say that they started stand ins a segregated theatre’s. After, this interaction they would march back to the end of the line to try again. When doing do some bystanders would make fun of them for marching related to civil rights march.
This scene demonstrated some of what we have been seeing in Richmond with the movements for the monuments. Individuals are being mocked for doing what they want and standing up for what they believe in. It is unfair for individuals to be denied the right to attend or do something and then get made fun of for trying. Standing up for what you believe in and continuing to try is important because one day you will make a change and even be the leader of change that other people will look up too.
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