原題のフリーダムライターズ(The Freedom Writers Diary)のフリーダムライターズ(Freedom Writers)は、もちろん、公民権運動時代のフリーダムライダーズ(Freedom Riders)のもじりである。
フリーダムライダーズは、アメリカ合州国史、とりわけ公民権運動史においては、よく知られている歴史的事実である。
1961年5月、公民権運動の活動家たちは州と州をつなぐ交通機関においては人種隔離政策が撤廃されたことを試そうとしてバスに乗り込み南部の町をめざした。
最高裁の命令を試すために、黒人・白人の公民権運動の活動家たち、学生や牧師がバスに乗り込んだのだ。5月4日に、最初のグループがワシントンDCを出発した。5月14日には、二番目のグループがナッシュビルを出発した。5月20日には、バーミングハムで合流したのだが、暴徒に襲われたり、バスが放火されたり、暴徒化するのを恐れ、ミシシッピ州のジャクソンで多くの参加者が逮捕されたのであった。
以下は、フリーダムライダーズ40周年を記念した2001年5月10日のCNNから。当時のフリーダムライダーズがどれほど危険な行動であったのか肌で感じることができる。
John Lewis: 'I thought I was going to die'
May 10, 2001 Posted: 4:46 PM EDT (2046 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- This week marks the 40th anniversary of the Freedom Rides, in which a handful of black and white civil rights activists, college students and ministers rode buses through the South in order to test a Supreme Court order that banned racial discrimination in interstate travel.
As they attempted to sit in the front seats of buses and attempted to enter "whites-only" waiting rooms, they were beaten by mobs, arrested and one of the buses was firebombed.
Rep. John Lewis, D-Georgia, was then a college student and a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and one of the Freedom Riders. He was severely beaten when a mob numbering in the hundreds attacked the riders in Montgomery, Alabama.
Lewis spoke to CNN's Stephen Frazier on Thursday morning from Washington D.C.
Frazier: I understand, later today, three buses are going to leave Washington. Here's what they're reenacting. We're looking at photos today -- here's one of them -- which shows a Ku Klux Klansman beating a Freedom Rider in May '61. At least one of those Klansman has a pipe or a stick or something.
Do you remember how violent this was?
Lewis: Well, it was very violent. It was 13 of us on the original ride -- seven whites and six blacks. The bus was burned in Anniston, Alabama. We were beaten in Birmingham, and later met by an angry mob in Montgomery, where I was hit in the head with a wooden crate.
It was very violent. I thought I was going to die. I was left lying at the Greyhound bus station in Montgomery unconscious.
Frazier: Here's a picture of the bus burning. And that was only -- they only stopped there because they had a flat. So people were laying for you wherever you went, is what I gather from this.
Lewis: Well, members of the Klan had deflated the tires from the bus stop in Anniston, Alabama. This is between Atlanta and Birmingham. And outside of Anniston, the bus had to stop and it was fire-bombed.
Frazier: Well, there are an awful lot of people who have been born since then who don't remember what that original Freedom Ride was intended to try to protest.
Lewis: Well, the Freedom Ride was to test a decision of the United States Supreme Court banning segregation in the areas of public transportation. It was almost impossible for blacks and whites to travel together from Washington, D.C. through the South to New Orleans. And you had signs saying, "White Waiting," "Colored Waiting," "White Men," "Colored Men," "White Women," "Colored Women."
Segregation was the order of the day. There was a tremendous amount of fear. So the Ride was going to test this decision, try to desegregate these places, but also to take the civil rights movement into the heart of deep South.
Frazier: And you mentioned the 13 people. Who were they? What were their jobs in daily life?
Lewis: Many of these people were teachers, lawyers, entertainers, but several -- student. I was a student. I was 21 years old. And there was one or two people 18, 19 years old.
Frazier: I understand a lot of veterans have gathered back in Washington and will be taking part in this reenactment that begins today.
Lewis: Well, we all are gathering here in Washington today. We're going to meet. We're going to have a meal that we call the "Last Supper."
Before we left Washington 40 years ago, we went to a Chinese restaurant and we had a wonderful meal. And someone referred to this meal as the Last Supper. And little did we know when we traveled through Alabama, it was like the Last Supper.
Frazier: Like the Passion almost -- and, you know, the difficulties faced by Christ.
Lewis: Well, many of us, we didn't know whether we would return to Washington or being returning to our homes. Many of us, as students and young people, wrote our wills. And we signed statements because it was a very dangerous mission.
Frazier: Of course, now, we're looking back at all of those events. But what about today, when you think of what's happening, all the racial strife in Cincinnati recently and a trial in Birmingham reminiscent of those days in which a man was found guilty of bombing a church and killing four young girls?
Lewis: Well, we have come such a distance. We have made a lot of progress. Those signs are gone. The fear is gone. What happened in Birmingham with the conviction of this man, it shows that you may try to run from justice, but justice will track you down. But we still have problems. The scars and stains of racism are still deeply embedded in every corner of the American society. So it's not just in the South, but it's in cities like Cincinnati and other parts of our country.
公民権運動によって、人種隔離政策は、表面的にはおこなうことができなくなったが、上のCNNのインタビューにもあるように、完全に解決したわけではない。
ランディ・ニューマンやスティービー・ワンダーの歌ではないが、差別は間接的なかたちで巧妙に存在し続けている。あるいは逆の寄り返しもあるだろう。それが、映画「フリーダムライターズ」のテーマの一つになっている。
それにしても、この映画で描かれている生徒の家庭崩壊、地域崩壊はすさまじい。
ヒラリー・スワンク扮する国語教師が、日本でいえば、綴り方教室の伝統に学ぶが如く、綴り方によって、まず教師が生徒の置かれている現実を学ぶのだ。綴り方なんかで太刀打ちできそうにない過酷な現実を前にして、この国語教師はひるまない。
一方、生徒は自分や自分を取り巻く環境を綴ることによって、自己認識・他者認識を得ながら、問題解決の糸口を探っていく。
問題解決の糸口のひとつは、差別意識をえぐり出すことだった。
生徒達の日常は、銃口を向けられ、知人が射殺される現実に生きながら、ホロコーストも、ユダヤ人差別も、アンネの日記も知らない無学の(illiterate)の状況が生徒たちを重く取り巻いている。
エリングルーウェル(Erin Gruwell)という実在する教師は、教師生活と同時にいくつもアルバイトをして、生徒に本を与え、ホロコーストの博物館*1に生徒を連れて行き、おそらくは飯も食わせる。
そうして、生徒たちは、アンネフランクをかくまった女性を呼び寄せる活動をしたいと思うまでに成長する。この変化は本物だ。
ということで大変素晴らしい映画なのだが、実際は4年間担当したようだが、映画では2年間の生徒の成長しか追って描いていない。その点で、あのすさまじい状況下で生きる生徒たちが、一人ひとり成長していく姿が、その細かな点が十二分に描ききれていない点が唯一残念だった。ただし、この映画が教育を十二分に物語っている点に変わりはない。
フリーダムライターズは、現在、基金の活動をしている。
以下が公式サイト。
http://www.freedomwritersfoundation.org/site/c.kqIXL2PFJtH/b.2259975/k.BF19/Home.htm
The Freedom Writers Diary is the amazing true story of strength, courage, and achievement in the face of adversity. In the fall of 1994, in Room 203 at Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, California, an idealistic teacher named Erin Gruwell faced her first group of students, dubbed by the administration as "unteachable, at-risk" teenagers. The class was a diverse mix of African-American, Latino, Cambodian, Vietnamese, and Caucasian students, many of whom had grown up in rough neighborhoods in Long Beach. In the first few weeks of class, the students made it clear that they were not interested in what their teacher had to say, and made bets about how long she would last in their classroom.
Then a pivotal moment changed their lives forever. When a racial caricature of one of the African-American students circulated the classroom, Erin Gruwell angrily intercepted the drawing and compared it to the Nazi caricatures of Jews during the Holocaust. To her amazement, the students responded with puzzled looks. Erin Gruwell was appalled to discover that many of her students had never heard of the Holocaust. When she asked how many in her class had been shot at, however, almost all of them raised their hands, and began lifting their shirts to show their scars. This initiated a battle-scar show-and-tell that left Erin Gruwell shocked and inspired to take advantage of the powerful energy she had sparked.
By fostering an educational philosophy that valued and promoted diversity, she transformed her students' lives. She encouraged them to rethink rigid beliefs about themselves and others, to reconsider daily decisions, and to rechart their futures. With Erin's steadfast support, her students shattered stereotypes to become critical thinkers, aspiring college students, and citizens for change. They even dubbed themselves the "Freedom Writers" - in homage to the Civil Rights activists the "Freedom Riders" - and published a book.
2007年公開。
*1:この博物館は、Museum of Toleranceのことで、1993年にオープンし、私は訪れたことはない。http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_Tolerance
