The Freedom Writers Diary

Build on what they already know. I’ve been trying to pick stories they can relate to and then challenge them to bring the story to life.

I reflected on my brother and how his only hope was a confession statement from the person he was with, the real killer. The court stated: “The defendant confessed his actions to a person who was not an officer of the court. Therefore his statement is null and void, and it cannot be used as admissible evidence in court.” His lawyer came and advised him to plead the fifth amendment—no statement, no conviction. Once again, they proved that justice doesn’t mean the bad guys go to jail, it just means someone pays for the crime.

Everyone around me seems phony. I go to school with a bunch of conformists. Everywhere I look I see duplicates of the so-called perfect pattern. The teachers are the operators running the mind-control factory.

To think that Dr. Martin Luther King recited his famous “I Have a Dream” speech here where he dreamt that someday “little black children and little white children…will come together.” Ironically, when I looked at the Freedom Writers holding hands in the rain, I realized that we are his dream come true. Note: We are someones dream coming true, even if sometimes its 'just' our own

Share stories, not stereotypes.

Bullying stops when you realize it’s not you, it’s them, and you have nothing to prove to those who hurt people for their enjoyment.

I serve to remind people that addiction is not just the “other man’s” problem, or a “matter of will.” It is an undiscriminating disease, and it deserves to be treated as such: not with disgust, shame, and pity but rather with encouragement, understanding, and compassion. I was not there to scare anyone straight, but rather show them that there is another way