Eyes on The Prize Ethan Hawker

Question 11

One part of the movie that had a great impact on me was the scene where the white women is helping the black girl make it to the bus without being attacked. It shows the simple struggle blacks in the south had while trying to get an education. It was also interesting because often times films and other sources of entertainment that are about the civil rights movement portray it as a North vs. South difference, not as a fluid struggle. This woman knew she would be shunned by her community and possibly attacked herself, but she still helped this stranger. To me this is a great example of unity and the idea of working towards their common goal even as different races, and portrayed as the opposition.

Eyes On The Prize-Bronson Engel

The mother of Emmett Till and her actions after her son was murdered really moved me because it takes a lot of courage and strength to do what she did for the good of the country. Her son was brutally beaten, his face was unrecognizable, his body was soggy from the water that his body was put in. She knew what his body looked like and when they insisted that the body be covered for the funeral she wanted the whole world to see what those two men did to her son. I know if that was my child I would never want anyone to see what they did to my child but since she wanted our world to overcome racism and she wanted everyone to know what racism can do to us, human beings, makes her the bravest person in the world and her courage amazes me.

Eyes on the Prize- Mollie Hartenstein

An element from eyes and the prize that really struck me was the film's explanation of how World War II affected racism and equality in America. The idea that when fighting a war black people were treated as equals, but still killed in their home counties for 'talking fresh' is astounding. While watching the film I learned of how equality in the armed forces during the war led to an increased fight for freedom when black soldiers returned to the south. Although conditions for African Americans in the army were still distinct and usually worse than those of their white counterparts, for the first time a generation who led the civil rights movement was on an even playing field with their white counterparts. It seems that just the idea that they were fighting for a home and for freedom showed black soldiers how much they were being treated unfairly. If they were fighting for the white man overseas, than they might as well fight against him at home.

I had never before realized the correlation in timing between World War II and the beginning of the fight for civil rights in America. It makes a lot of sense now, as to how an experience as unique and patriotic as fighting in a world war would spur the fight for civil rights. I think this link in the chain of civil rights is often under covered. Without acknowledging this correlation there is no reason that the 1950s were a unique time to attempt institutional change in the United States of America.

Eyes on the Prize-Emma Ringstad

Emma Ringstad
Eyes on the Prize
Reflection
12/12/16

              In the Eyes on the Prize video I was very moved by the power and impact of Emmett Till's death. I was saddened when I learned that Emmett Till's murders were not prosecuted or punished in anyway. The atrocity that they committed confirmed my understanding of how bad things used to be only a few years ago. However, the way that the death inspired so many people restored my faith in the will power of many people, and the hope that can be created and maintained in the face of so much struggle and pain. It was beautiful to see the power of the bus boycott and how only changing a small part of your daily routine can create everlasting change. The strength that Emmett Till inspired in people awed me and awoke great respect for every person who fought in the civil rights movement.

Eyes on the Prize Ben Baker-Katz

For me, the most moving part of Eyes on the Prize the part about Emmitt Till's murder. The murder, while horrifying, was not that part that really moved me. It was the actions of the killers that stuck with me. I do not understand how those men could possibly live with themselves after doing what they did. They did not appear to show any remorse for the crime, and later they even confessed to the murder. I will never forget their expressions when they were cleared. They were not expressions of relief or remorse, but of expectance. They knew there was no chance they would be convicted, and that was the problem. Everyone knew they committed those murders, and yet they never thought for a second they would be convicted. That is a huge problem that has not really gone away. Police are still being found not guilty of murders they clearly committed. Caesar Goodson (Freddie Gray) and Darren Wilson (Michael Brown) to name a few. Anyway, the reactions of the two murders who were not convicted of murder is what moved me the most in Eyes on the Prize.

                                          

Eyes on The Prize Elliot Davis

The biggest element in the movie in Eyes on The Prize that moved me the most were the scenes showing Emmet Till. This impacted me a lot because it amazed me how two men could so viciously attack a young boy and feel no remorse. The pictures of Emmet Till's body just amplify the horrors of what was done to him, as his face isn't even recognizable. It only takes a shot in the head to kill someone, yet their method of killing him shows that they wanted him to suffer much more than just that swift death; they wanted to torture him. Furthermore, after this happened, a jury containing all white men declared the two defendants not guilty. This might have even struck me more than previously because it is bewildering how a court, no matter their race or other classification, couldn't even find enough humanity to punish somebody who killed and tortured a young boy. The American legal system was so flawed and skewed towards whiteness that this court couldn't bring themselves to condemn two white men for a crime against a black man.

Eyes on the Prize Reflection Ethan Mitzen

The video Eyes on the Prize deals with a great deal of civil rights history, the most moving and emphasized among them the murder of Emmett Till. This is probably one of the most moving parts of the video to most people because the act and aftermath were so terrible. The deed itself, the rationale of the perpetrators, and the verdict were all incredibly disgusting and an affront to the concepts of justice and fair trials. It calls to mind a much, much harsher version of the play Twelve Angry Men, which highlights the inherent bias juries held for a great deal of time. In the play, twelve white men sit on a jury to decide the fate of a young boy of a color, and only one juror seems to actually care about the fate of this young boy. Eventually, by actually reviewing the facts of the case, that juror is able to convince the other jurors to reverse their votes. In the instance of Emmett Till, the jury consisted entirely of white men, just as in the play, and they took only about an hour to decide that Emmett Till’s killers were not guilty. Some of the most moving parts of the video in this area, other than the clearly moving words of Emmett Till’s mother and the image of Emmett’s body, were the words of the judicial officials. The county sheriff used the N-word in a televised interview as if it was nothing (which I’m sure it was to him at that time) and the defence lawyer told the jury, which again consisted purely of white men, that he was certain that all good Anglo-Saxon men would acquit the men before then because of just that, their whiteness and the fact that the defendants had that in common with them. These words and phrases from authority figures are deeply concerning because they reveal the false promises of the American justice system in terms of race. When people in positions of power clearly have racial biases, faith in institutions is greatly diminished and even though this occurred decades ago the curtain that it pulled away is still incredibly telling in our modern justice system and the way it treats racially motivated crimes committed by white people.