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Essay / The theme of hope in "Black Like Me" and "I Have a Dream"
In John Howard Griffin's novel Black Like Me, hope is present in some of the places Griffin goes in the south, where people fight racism and black people. people have not yet “lost hope”. For example, Griffin finds that in Montgomery, Alabama, black people fight racism, regardless of the consequences. He couldn't identify the whites' point of view, other than the fact that they were a little upset: they didn't want blacks to assimilate into society and were angry at their rebellion. But the blacks fighting back sparked hope in Griffin because of the absence of utter despair he had found in the other cities he had traveled to. Griffin was picked up by a kind young black man on November 24 who gave him hope. Even though the man struggled to provide for his family, they were wealthy in the sense that they had unconditional love for each other. The family also had love for all humanity; they welcomed a complete stranger to eat meals with them and spend a night at their home. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay In A Place at the Table, teenagers from all walks of life spoke about the oppression their ancestors endured and how proud they were of them. Once they each explained their story, the teens realized that they were actually not much different from each other, even though they were of different races. They realized that they are not alone and that they have many people to support them, on whom they can count and with whom they can empathize. For example, the girl who had Irish ancestry said she came to America and faced oppression, just like the guy's ancestors who were black slaves. All of their ancestors faced oppression, even though they expected America to be the “land of the free.” The main idea of hope in this film was that everyone, regardless of background or race, has “a seat at the table,” the table meaning America. Race shouldn't matter. In Dr. King's speech, I Have a Dream, King talks about his hopes for the country. He explains how he wants everyone to realize that they are equal regardless of the color of their skin, just like the hope shown in Black Like Me and A Place at the Table. His speech demonstrates the hope of one individual, but a hope shared by many oppressed people, just like King. Black Like Me significantly changed my view of oppression. I thought oppression meant you couldn't fight back, and that no matter what you did, you were always oppressed. But I now realize that oppression doesn't have to happen without the victim being unable to fight back. In fact, oppression can be greatly influenced if the victim fights back. It's even more effective to stand up for yourself when you have people supporting you, and that's why I loved the hope found in the three sources I discussed. Most ideas anticipated by the oppressed are best implemented when other oppressed peoples fight alongside them. Black Like Me hasn't changed my opinion on stereotypes. I still think they are completely unfair, unreasonable and wrong. I was also shocked by some of the stereotypes presented by Black Like Me, for example, when many of the white men Griffin went on rides with assumed that the "black man" had a more exciting and different sex life than white people. They were.