Watching the Eyes on The Prize series offers a very good glimpse into the painful past and the struggle endured by both Black and White people to bring equality to the nation’s classrooms. One particular episode focuses on the years of 1966 to 1968. In Boston Massachusetts, the battle between the White and Black community over the issue of desegregating schools was quite a story. The laws were leaned to the favor of Blacks who wanted their children to have a bus system. They wanted to their children transported to areas where they could attend better schools and receive a higher quality education. While watching the aggressive nature of the White, protesting parents three feelings emerged. First there was shock followed by several questions that came to mind. The first shocker was the reaction of the Irish community who were angry about the possibility Blacks being educated in their neighborhoods. The second shocker was the intent of the Black people who started the revolutionary change. The last two shocking things were the actions which took place to bring about the positive change.
The initial shock was caused by several key moments in the film. First, the Irish communities were so much against the integration. I could not believe that they forgot that at one time, Irish people were new to American soil. It was amazing how quickly they forgot about how they would have wanted to be treated. They seem to forget that the children would not need to attend schools in their precious neighborhoods if systematic oppression was not put in place for Black people in the first place. The shock was in witnessing how misguided the Irish community’s anger was. How could they not understand that all the Black people wanted was a high quality of education for their kids?
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"Reflection on Eyes on the Prize-Power 1966-1968".
The second reason for the shock was for the decisions of some Black parents. How could they think that sending their children to get an education among hateful White people would be best for them? If I knew that the people in the other neighborhoods would be abusive to my child if I sent him to school there, I would keep my child educated nearby where I could protect him. This led to another big question. Why didn’t the Black people resolve to fix up the schools in their own neighborhoods and educate them on their own? They could teach their own children to read, write and do arithmetic, right? Then a sigh of relief came when I saw that some Black people did decide to collaborate and homeschool their children. Nothing would have hurt the oppressive Whites more than watching Black people empower themselves, educate their own children and become more self-sufficient. I understand why thing happen the way they did. It is possible that some Black parents came from a generation where the oppression was even more legally acceptable and their own education may have been quite limited. It is difficult to assume answers to my own question without being able to interview some of the people who survived the struggle back then.
The third element of the movie that was shocking was the fact that Black people in Atlanta and other cities were moving into political positions of power. Atlanta elected a Black mayor and Black people seemed to be moving up in terms of snatching a piece of the freedom pie. This was shocking because Black people were finding success under the umbrellas of the same legal power structure that set up the oppression in the first place. This speaks volumes about two things. First, the persevering spirit of Black people can never be overstated. Secondly, much credit must be given to the thousands of White people who were opposed to the racism and unfair treatment of Black people. Not only did Black people use their power in numbers to elect supportive Black officials, but many Whites were in favor of helping Black people as well.
A final shocking element of the film was the ambiguous results of the implementation of Affirmative Action. It proved to be a major triumph of Mayor Jackson’s term in Atlanta. However, many people in Atlanta still remained poor. On the other hand, ten years into the existence of Affirmative Action, there came a time when Black college students were equal in number to White college students. Ironically, there seemed to be some Black people who were against affirmative action. Once again, another shocking moment jumped out of the film. Many white people were so eager to whimper in court about Affirmative Action being used to discriminate against them. Well my question to them is, “What do you think that Black people had endured for the previous 400+ years???” All of a sudden an initiative is set up to reduce or eliminate the amount of disproportionate exclusion of Black people from everything that has been handed to White people (good jobs, nice neighborhoods, good education etc.). Yet, many White people were so hateful and selfish in their hearts that they viewed every opportunity offered to a Black person as a snatched piece of food from their own dinner tables. It was truly shocking to see how bitter and evil people can be.
In conclusion, watching this film warms the heart despite all of the shocking scenes and events. I was personally moved by Blacks who suffered, as well as Whites who empathized enough to sacrifice so many personal comforts in order to walk with picket signs for racial justice. Watching this film was a great experience. I witnessed what can happen when people stick together and hold tightly to their vision for change. It was bothersome to see the Irish community of Boston teaching hatred to their children by pulling them out of school in an act of protest against public school integration. It was even more bothersome to see some Black people pushing for sending their kids to evil neighborhoods instead of educating their own kids in their own neighborhoods. In the end I learned that perseverance is the currency for success.
