The Great Debaters

     "The Great Debaters" was a good and inspirational movie. The movie took place in the time of the 1930s also known as "The Great Depression" time. During this time blacks did not have the same education and rights as the whites did. After watching this movie I became inspired because it showed me what dedication and hard work can do. Even though they were going through a hard time and many people thought they weren't able to accomplish their debates because they were African American's going against whites, but they did and did much better for themselves after that. A quote that I remember the most from the whole movie, was what James Farmer Jr, said for his last debate against Harvard University. The quote says, "In Texas they lynch Negroes. My teammates and I saw a man strung up by his neck and set on fire. We drove through a lynch mob, pressed our faces against the floorboard. I looked at my teammates. I saw the fear in their eyes and, worse, the shame. What was this Negro's crime that he should be hung without trial in a dark forest filled with fog. Was he a thief? Was he a killer? Or just a Negro? Was he a sharecropper? A preacher? Were his children waiting up for him? And who are we to just lie there and do nothing. No matter what he did, the mob was the criminal. But the law did nothing. Just left us wondering, "Why?" My opponent says nothing that erodes the rule of law can be moral. But there is no rule of law in the Jim Crow south. Not when Negroes are denied housing. Turned away from schools, hospitals. And not when we are lynched. St Augustine said, "An unjust law in no law at all.' Which means I have a right, even a duty to resist. With violence or civil disobedience. You should pray I choose the latter.'' This quote stood out the most to me because I thought that it was the most important one throughout the whole movie, and to me it also put the main idea of the movie into one powerful quote. During this time blacks were killed for no reason, their family and friends had to stand back and watch because they couldn't do anything about it. Blacks didn't have the power like whites did, and they didn't deserve the treatment they got. This quote is telling everyone how bad blacks had it, but they weren't able to do anything about it. The law didn't do anything to help those people that were in need of it, and I think that if they are going to work for the government then they have to stand up for everyone, not just the whites. I am so thankful for the change that we now have for blacks and every other race there is, but their is still racism all over the world and we need to end it now.