...Marie Rudek Spinos !7 November 2015 Discovering Self-Identity As we grow older and become more aware of the social world, we often find ourselves learning and changing different preferences. Often times, this includes small quirks such as different foods we might have enjoyed at some point but grew out of or deeper insights such as self-discovery and learning what we stand for in life and tough situations. The complexity of this experience may vary for different people and is often a harder concept to fully grasp for ourselves but leads to shaping who we are and what differentiates us as human beings. To demonstrate, sexual orientation and gender identification has been a complicated journey for some to overcome. In the movie, Boys Don’t Cry, Brandon Teena struggles with these notions since he is biologically a female but would rather identify as a male. Teena undergoes a self makeover and ultimately changes her name into Brandon Teena from Teena Brandon. Although there are a variety of factors that attribute to his decision, including living in a small town with virtually nothing to do and no room for growth as well as having a carefree attitude full of law breaking and making poor choices, he ultimately just identifies as a male and is interested in women. In the film Brandon meets a woman, Lana, he begins to feel attracted to and who he deceives until one day he is discovered after he has been arrested and is put into the women’s jail raising many questions. Eventually...
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...Boys Don’t Cry The movie Boys Don’t Cry is a great movie with a very emotional storyline. I believe this movie showed that being transgender is not as uncommon as many people think it to be. Also, it illustrates the fact that even though someone is transgender it doesn’t make them any less of a human being. After discussing the movie with some of my classmates, I realized we had different feelings towards the movie. There were some things that didn’t quite make sense to them, but made perfect sense to me. For example, one of my classmates could not understand why Brandon continued to lie and deceive everyone. She thought if Brandon would have been honest from the beginning then he might still be alive. However, I disagree because I feel that Brandon wasn’t being dishonest to trick people or hurt others; I feel that he really thought of himself as a boy, so to him it wasn’t lying. Brandon was just trying to start over fresh in a new place and didn’t want to bring his past with him. I believe Brandon waited so long to come out because he knew he would not be accepted by his family. The movie showed how unsupportive his cousin was about his decision to become a boy. I truly believe that Brandon moved to another town to have a fresh start at life; there he had a greater chance of being accepted the way he was. Even after Brandon’s death his family still showed how unsupportive of him they were by putting, “Teena Brandon, loving daughter and friend” on his headstone. As...
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...Betty Waltermire Crime and Criminology JUS-110 January 18, 2014 Sexuality and Hate Crimes A hate crime is an act of abusing an individual because they are convenient, vulnerable targets incapable of fighting back or will not fight back. People in this category may include homeless, gay men, lesbian women, transgender, transsexuals, and transvestites. These are specific crimes that drive a person by violence or a strong and selfish desire to severely injure or kill a person because of who they are or what they stand for. From coast to coast and throughout America’s heartland the murders of innocent people are occurring because they are different. They may or may not look any different than anyone else in your school, in college, at work or your neighbor. They are our sons, daughters, sisters, brothers, cousins, mothers, fathers that are gay, lesbian, transgender, transsexual that are being targeted, beaten severely, and killed. Anna Marie Lambert drove up the driveway to the rented farmhouse to visit her daughter and grandson. Inside the house she found the grisly, brutal, bloody scene and called the police. She took the grandson away from the bedroom and out to the kitchen away from the bodies. The male on the living room couch was identified as Phillip DeVine, 19. In the bedroom was the body of her daughter Lisa Lambert, 24, who was partly under the covers. The third...
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...But were having the same battle. Integration of public schools. Whites and blacks in the same classroom and learning the same subject together. But this was on the south. Many segregationist objected this idea. In one school from Warriors don’t cry by Melba Pattillo-Beals, which the high school name is Central High. The first day of integration in Central High there was too much commotion. There were segregationist were around the school trying to stop the 9 african-american to go to Central High. In Remembering the Titans in Virginia the black school was closed, they had to integrate to a white school. In the first day of school, there was poster of no integration needed. Police were blocking the moms and segregationist opposing the integration. This shows that in the 2 different schools they had the same trouble. People opposing the intergration of mixed schools. The Civil Rights Movement was to make those change. For these 2 schools were obligated to intergrate. In Warriors don’t...
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...During the 2017-18 school year, I've read so many good books that it is hard to choose one favorite. However, the book I read for the memoir project, Warriors Don't Cry by Melba Pattillo Beals, stood out from the others. The memoir was so beautifully written that I never wanted to put it down. I'd never felt so captivated by a book assigned for English class, and this book drew me in until I felt as if I were a part of Melba's world. The book helped me realize the trials and suffering that racial inequality has caused since the beginning of time. Even though I had learned about the civil rights movement before, reading Warriors Don't Cry was an eye-opening experience. I'd never learned about that era with such detail and brutal honesty. Each...
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...One of the most common and important heroes in black history is Melba Pattillo. Although you don't hear about her individually, I know you have heard of the Little Rock Nine; Melba, along with Ernest Green, Minnijean Brown, Elizabeth Eckford, Gloria Ray-Karlmark, Carlotta Walls, Thelma Mothershed, Terrence Roberts, and Jefferson Thomas, all kings and queens in their own right, lives changed drastically when they stepped foot onto Central High School campus. Melba Pattillo is a inspiration to me because not only was she a outcast and target in the school, she along with the other eight students who segregated the school were bullied everyday. Between facing hostility, persecution and being bullied, Melba endured a lot daily. She even got...
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...“Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it” - Charles R Swindoll. This quote explains how going to Central, and dealing with her harassment is only 10% of Melba’s life, and the other 90% is how she acts and reacts towards her harassment. In the book Warriors Don't Cry by Melba Pattillo Beals, Melba is the bravest character because she puts up with all her bullies and the segregationist at school, she is brave enough to go to Central High School every day even though she knows she is going to get bullied, and she puts up with the disproving statements of her neighbors. Even though Melba knows that she is going to get bullied every single day of school, she still chooses to go to Central High School. Melba goes to Central knowing she is going to get kicked, tripped, pushed down stairs, called mean names and sprayed ink on her clothes. The main goal is to try to get Melba to leave Central High and never think of coming back. What her bullies do is make up different days where they bully and harass the students a different way each day. One day came to be known as stare days. “Large, boisterous groups of hecklers stared intensely and harassed the living daylights out of us” (Beals 234). Melba stated that the only thing worse than getting physically harassed is getting ignored or looked at. Melba is brave enough to...
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...eight others in her story Warriors Don’t Cry. In Little Rock, Arkansas, the Little Rock Nine were young African Americans that had been chosen to participate in the first integration at Central High School. In the 1950s, many segregationists and students were opposed to this and responded by harassing the children and even abusing them. Melba demonstrates the characteristics of a brave warrior by fighting back against her oppressors emotionally and physically even when the odds were against her. Most of Melba’s battles resided inside her, these battles usually led to decisions that would improve or cripple Melba’s experience as an African American fighting for her rights; winning these battles was crucial to her survival at Central High. Danny was a very positive role...
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...Barred from entering Central High the next year when the city’s schools were closed, Pattillo moved to Santa Rosa, California, to live with a sponsoring family who were members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for her senior year of high school. In 1961, Pattillo married John Beals. They had one daughter but divorced after ten years of marriage. She subsequently adopted two boys. Beals graduated from San Francisco State University with a BA in journalism and earned an MA in the same field from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York. She has worked as a communications consultant, a motivational speaker, and as a reporter for San Francisco’s public television station and for...
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...“I know it seems hard sometimes but remember one, thing. Through every dark night, there’s a bright day after that. So no matter how hard it gets, stick your chest out keep ya head up and handle it ~ Tupac Shakur.” In Warriors Dont Cry readers will learn to keep their head up through tough times, because in the end you will find confidence and happiness. You will explore how the Little Rock 9 (Black Kids) push through while integrating in an all white high school. In Warriors Dont Cry If you keep pushing yourself you will build up your confidence. The characters will show you that you can never back down, because there's always a way to fight. On page 113, it says “Too late now’, I said ‘ It's never too late. It takes a warrior to fight a...
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...In due time, Beals illustrates that independence is an important characteristic to have once you engage in difficult circumstances because it prepares you for the experiences of the world. In the book, Warriors Don’t Cry, Melba comes in contact with various hardships. This does not break Melba down. She knows that there is something that she must do in order to change the environment that she lives in. “Change the rules of the game, girl, and they might not like it so much” (). These words were spoken by Melba’s grandmother after Minnijean had been attacked at the integrated school. Melba’s grandmother advises that she should take all insults and harassment as compliments and kindness. This is just telling Melba to kill them with kindness instead...
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...Should it be Taught? Black vs. white, good vs evil. A constant battle against racism. In the past, many people suffered from discrimination, and it is sad to say schools were one the biggest targets of this disease. For instance, the author of the book Warriors Don’t Cry, Melba Pattillo Beals, writes about how she was the target of her school and suffered years of discrimination and segregation while she attended an all white school. Because this disease hit schools the hardest, it should be a priority to teach racism in schools and have every student at some point read the book Warriors Don’t Cry by Melba Pattillo Beals. Many readers may question why we should be learning about a thing of the past, the answer is simple. Racism isn’t history; it never was and most likely never will be. Many believe that once slavery was abolished, so was racism. Racism just went into the shadows and now is slowly making its way back out. In May of 1955, when Melba Beals decided to push an education and go to Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas; she didn’t expect that she would be discriminated against....
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...For a couple of weeks, we have been reading and working on a book called "Warriors Don’t Cry". It’s about a young black woman who goes through some hard times during her times in high school. Her name is Melba Pattillo, and she was one of the Little Rock Nine. She had some tough times during her time at Little Rock Central High. When she was going to school, she had to face mean white kids, mean white parents, segregation, bullies, and sometimes she had trouble keeping hope for herself. Everyday, she had to face people calling her mean names, people spitting in her face, hitting her, and even trying to kill her. She had to be tough, and stay strong during this time or else she'd either get hurt or probably die. One of the only reasons she probably survived the school year, is because of her Grandma India. Grandma India...
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...In Warriors Don’t Cry, Melba Pattillo Beals, an African American teenage resident of Little Rock, Arkansas, is fighting for the integration of Central High School. After being selected for her excellent academic achievements at her previous school, in 1957, she is enrolled into the all-white Central High School. This school year is torturous for Melba. She is constantly attacked with obscene words and language, while physical attacks are also quite common for her. Despite these horrible circumstances, Melba is able to use her traits and abilities to survive. Melba uses her physical strength to combat her enemies, her acute cleverness to outsmart and confuse her attackers, and relies on her faith in God to keep her mentally strong. Melba uses physical strength to retaliate against her enemies and survive their attacks. In Chapter 10, Melba enters a dimly lit bathroom and a group of girls gathers around her stall. They then proceed to drop flaming wads onto her. In retaliation, Melba throws her school books up at the girls. This show of force scares her attackers and allows her to break out of the stall to...
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...Link’s Compassion Warriors Don’t Cry is Melba Pattillo’s personal memoir about the Arkansas Nine’s experience integrating Central High School. Melba was fifteen years old when she was chosen to integrate alongside eight fellow teenagers from Horace Mann High School. At Central, Melba experienced violence involving other students that put her life in danger. One particularly evil tormenter, Andy, was chasing Melba down the street, threatening to kill her, and that was the moment that she met Link. Link was a white boy who showed on multiple situations that he was compassionate towards the people that he cared for. Link exhibited that he had great compassion during Warriors Don’t Cry. The first time Link ever met Melba was an example of...
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