Feelings Towards the Movie

After watching the movie over the past 3 class periods i can say that I feel somewhat more conflicted on the information presented to me. To be honest I was not helped at all by this movie in understanding what happened during the riots. I was able to become more educated on the different views and understand better the background for each of the groups in involved. I think that this was more the intention of the woman who made the movie and I do feel like i got some depth behind the stories. However, in understanding where each of these people are coming form I lost a sense of what truly happened. This is because in understanding the feelings behind each of the parties I feel like i lost a grasp of what truly happened. I now have no idea what happened with the car crash and I have no idea the series of events that led to the end of the riots. This is something that I came into the movie with and have completely lost. Maybe that was another purpose of the movie. To take what was thought to be known about the riots and bombard ones thoughts with the thoughts of others until the true motives are skewed from every which way. Overall I thought that the movie was interesting and that The woman did a wonderful job acting as all of the characters. I thought that the thoughts that she prtrayed were at there best and most impacting with her portrayal of Cato's father.

Race Riots

After getting some perspecitve on what occured in the Harlem Race Riots I have to say that I am more sympathetic to the hissidic jewish population in Harmel. This is not because I think that either side did anyhting right in this situation I just feel like the jewish population was less at fault than the black population. This is supported by the fact that the accident that set all of the thing off, the death of the little boy, was an accident. I think that this is also a situation where blame was attempted to be shifted in order that some tangible entity could be blamed for the death of the boy. This came in the form of accusing the driver of being drunk and the ambulance drivers of ignoring the little boy. I was not there but I can only think that the driver was just trying to stay witht eh motorcade adn lost control of his vehicle. Not because he was drunk but because he was hurrying to stay with the motorcade. In terms of the ambulance system I agree with the jewish population again because I would have assumed that the police would have wanted the jewish man to be taken away from the situation as soon as possible and in order to do that and help the children the Jewish man had to be taken away in the jewish ambulance. What follows after this makes up the race riots and I think is more building on an original mistake.

Malcolm X

Malcolm X is completely different from Martin Luther King Junior. Not only in his backgrounds and upbringing but also in his teachings and writings. After reading the excerpt from Malcolm X it is easy to tell that his message is very different from that of Martin Luther King. One thing that angered me is the fact that he was so much about rioting and violence to prove a point. It is obvious to me that Martin Luther King Jr. spoke a message of peace and Malcolm X was telling his followers to do exactly the opposite. It angered me his logic that if someone did not want to be a follower of him or see his ways that there should be no desire to interact with them. This somewhat angers me because it shuns any type of expression that is not fit for Malcolm X’s ideals. I had always thought that Malcolm X was more of a strong speaker and more about action than words. This excerpt however changed my views and made it so that I could realize that while he was for change he went about it completely different that anyone before him. He thought it would be best to fight fire with fire. This angered me because it seems obvious to me that in this case no one would truly win. This would end in less understanding and more hatred. This completely is different that King’s teaching and to me illustrate why King is thought of as more of a man for change than Malcolm X.

Blog – What does the brother realize about Sonny as he plays the piano? What does the music allow Sonny to do?

Sonny's blues is a certifiably depressing story. It starts out with Sonny having a drug addiction to heroin. He takes all of his thrills out of his life by doing drugs. he doest his in an effort to stay away from the lows of his life by consistently being high. THis leads to addiction and a tough recovery road for Sonny. he is able to find a small comfort and refuge from his drug addiction in music. he does this by learning and playing the piano;. The piano is an escape for him, he is able to express himself and not keep his life bottled up through the piano. Sonny's brother sees this and realizes the form of expression that Sonny has found. At first he does not really get what Sonny is playing but as it comes along he comes to realize it as the form of expression that it really is. This completely allows Sonny to crack his addictions and form a new life. This also allows him to lead others in finding their own forms of expression. This is shown becuase if Sonny, a former heroin addict, could do it than anyone can. One interesting aspect to this story that I found was the biblical reference to the son of GOD. The parralels that can be drawn are shown in that Christ lived his life and gave it for others while Sonny is living his life and showing people what they can do to free themselves as well. This music makes him free and also provides a great example for those around them and hopefully leads to them finding their own freedoms.