The Freedom Writers Diary - Erin Gruwell [81]
As I went to each class, I told people and those people told others. By 1:00 the whole school knew of the peace march, including the administrators. We were told that if we participated in the march we would be in trouble and that it was not allowed. The principal didn’t want to call any more attention to the situation at hand. When we heard that we couldn’t believe it. Why wouldn’t they want us to show a positive side to our school? We felt that our school should not be judged by the actions of one; so we did it anyway.
There have been more positive people that have come out of our school than negative ones. I figured that was a perfect reason to hold hands and walk together as one. Students who were stoners, football players, and even girls from my cheerleading team were planning to join the march.
The plan was for all of us to meet right after school as soon as the bell rang. As the group started to form I felt a feeling of unity. We were all together for one cause. Some faces were familiar and some were not, but none of that mattered. All that mattered was the label the media had put on our school, the little girl who had lost her life and that all of us were there together. As I stood there singing I thought about how in Washington, D.C., we did the exact same thing for almost the same purpose. I lifted my head high as I looked around to see all of us holding hands.
The media didn’t want to notice us in front holding hands. All the news cameras cared about was bribing students to talk about Jeremy. “Was Jeremy violent?” “Do you think drugs drove him to commit murder?”
So we sang and prayed until the news cameras left. I didn’t see us on TV tonight. Instead I saw the negative publicity, the questions they asked students, the humiliation we would have to deal with when all of this chaos is over. But at least for a brief amount of time, we stood strong for what we believed in.
Diary 96
Dear Diary,
The end of my junior year is coming up right around the corner. Next year I want to be very active, and end my senior year with a bang. How can I manage to do that?
Then Ms. Gruwell says, “Next year you guys, I want you to be very active and I want the Freedom Writers to be widely represented throughout Wilson High School. Student Council, athletics, and any other extra curricular activities.”
Wasn’t I just thinking about that?! Well, since I’m not very interested in sports, I think I’ll give student council a try. But what will I run for? I don’t want to be Governor of Publicity—that sounds too easy. I want an office position where I can have some sort of authority, because I know I like to be in control. How about Senior Class President?…Yeah, Senior Class President.
So, the next day I went to the meeting, entered my name on the ballot, and started my campaigning. The Freedom Writers supported me 100 percent, so at that moment, I knew I had at least 150 votes in my favor. Now it’s the rest of the school that I have to worry about. So I campaigned and campaigned up until the day of the election.
“Vote for me if you want to have a bomb-ass senior year! I have nothing but good things to offer you.” Those were the words that I shouted at school the day of the election, so that people who forgot today was election day would vote for me.
And then there was the period that I had to wait for the results. I had to wait around for at least a week or so until the spirit rally to know if I was the winner or not. At the spirit rally, I was a nervous wreck, but since I’m a smooth kind of gal, I didn’t let it show. Then it was time for the announcements.
“And your next year’s Senior Class President will be…” It was loud and I couldn’t hear the name that was called. Then I felt all kinds of pats on the back and people were hugging me.
“Get up there, girl, you won. You won.”
And the whole crowd was cheering my name and going crazy for me. As I walked up to the stage, I said, “You love me, you really love me.”
This is such a great accomplishment, I feel that I can do anything if I put my