When reading pages 1-61 I felt like there were many things that stood out to me. To start off the main thing that stood out to me was the bombing of 16th Street First Baptist Church in Birmingham AL. The reason why I feel like this event stood out is because even though some of the blacks lost loved ones and family members, I feel like they were able to stick together to fight for what they loved. I felt that this was a very important event because as a college student I realized that even today everyone has to fight for what they want and need no matter how many obstacles it takes to succeed.
Growing up as a little girl there were many things my grandmother had to sacrifice for her children and also grandchildren. I feel like my grandmother had to fight many obstacles to get her in the peaceful place she’s in now. Growing up my grandmother didn’t really have anything for her just because of the environment she lived in. My grandmother had to pray many times to keep pushing through hard times because she knew that one day, she was going to be in the perfect place she always wanted.
The reason I felt like talking about my grandmother and the people during the bombing of the 16th Street First Baptist Church is because even though neither my grandmother nor the people of the bombing had much, they had to look in a positive direction to where they could change minds of other in the future no matter if they succeeded the first time or not. Also, both topics I talked about didn’t let anything hold them down no matter how many people tried to hurt them for them to give up.
Compared to then and now I feel like the news back then was very unequal. The reason I say that is because there were mainly only black being targeted no matter if they did anything or not. Back then I feel like whites got away with a lot of hate crimes just because of how privileged they were. Therefore, I feel that news has gotten a lot better with getting both sides of a story to where it’s like 50/50 of information being provided. I also feel like news now has made people realize how real life really is and how people can make the world a better place by using their voice instead of hiding their voice.
When looking at the choices the characters made in the book, I feel that their choices were worth it because they chose to fight for what they wanted for the future. I feel like they wanted their voice to be heard and remembered through all the pain and suffering they went through.
If I had to be a character in the book it would most likely be the police officers. I chose the police officers because I felt like they never sat and listened to what was going on around them. One thing I would change to make it a better situation would be putting myself in the protester shoes to understand the pain they’re going through just to have freedom and to live a better life like the whites at the time.