Exploration 7: Ain't Scared

From examining the civil rights movie, I learned how much of a feat it was to even bring about change within the system related to the deterioration of segregation due to the lack of protection and support from the government and that with perseverance and will-power that you can achieve any goal you set forward for yourself, just from watching how determined the civil rights protesters were to break the racial barriers of American society by sacrificing parts of their daily lives to further their movement through their demonstration of a peaceful protest; with them resisting racial aggression which could create emotional backlashes. This aspect of the movie can be clearly seen with the ideological workshop training students to deal with non-stop brutal attacks both physical and mental state on their character with restraints being placed on their emotions; according to Rev. C.T. Vivian when talking about what the purpose of these workshops were to the students and the lead ministers of Nashville: "How to take the blows and respond with sense of dignity.".

An example of this in the movie being groups of African-Americans performing a constant sit-in within a diner for days before being taken to jail and once the action was taken another group would come walking in ready to take on the mental stresses of the last group and it would be a continuous cycle of arrests and replacements, making it difficult to put a hold on the anti-segregation protests despite the constant hatred being placed onto the people participating in the sit-in at the diner.

With this strategy they were able to gain traction through attention of the Nashville public especially the local black community, and not only that, they were able to wear down the police by leaving them with doubt as their jails quickly filled up with young students. From that point on they were able to keep moving forward with the attention of the local black community in Nashville with support being provided to the supporters that were imprisoned, including food from black merchants and bail money from selling property in that area to make sure these students were in a comfortable position. After that, other protests began such as the boycott of downtown stores since African-Americans often spend 50 million a year on average with 10 million spent in downtown stores alone, making the downtown area a efficient way of making their civil rights protest more important to the political figures of the town.

As Leo Lillard said, "We figured that if they seal the pinch of not having shoppers buy in the stores of downtown Nashville then it would put pressure on the mayor, on the political fabric of the town of Nashville to put out regulations." when discussing about what they should do to enforce a change within the system to make it more beneficial to be a part of.