Peace...In a Time of Destruction

           The most important theme or aspect that I took away from March: Book One is the extremely rigorous and difficult task of taking a non violent approach as a group. The African Americans in John Lewis's group saw the essential need for a more peaceful method. The media and some political officials painted a picture of African Americans that showed them as a threatening force that must be contained. I appreciate the peaceful approach that some African Americans took, because it showed the human side of what they wanted. They revealed to me that one can not expect humane treatment, when their actions are inhumane.

 

 

 

          The first panel that I chose to use is of some of the members of the Fellowship of Reconciliation. They are conditioning themselves for what they are going to face as they peacefully protest. Their participation in these training sessions exemplifies how serious they were about getting their rights and being peaceful in the process. There are many other groups who did not act peacefully, but I'm thankful for this group's courage to stand against violence.

 

 

            I love the concept of this next panel, because it shows the African Americans the Causcasian members' point of view and vice versa. The panel shows a demonstration where black people play the role of white people, and they get to experience the situation from a different perspective. I belive this exercise helped the blacks appreciate white support, and it helped the whites be more encouraged to stand against the mistreatment that blacks endured.


               Next, I chose a panel where there is actual physical violence. Each peroson in the group knew that they would be pushed to their limits and beyond, and they wanted to be pushed to that limit beforehand so that they could control their emotions. The conditioning of each person's will to fight back against violence into a "turn the other cheek" method had to be tremendously difficult. The people who participated in this conditioning are the ones who get overlooked by the history books, but they proved that they are the real heroes.

 

 

               The next scene I chose shows a man blowing smoke into another man's face in an attempt to dehumanize him. It seems to me the mistreatment that involved non violent acts were the ones that affected African Americans the most. Violence begets violence in most cases, but you are the one who chooses how you will react when someone does something extremely disrespectful to you without harming you. Not only did this group have to condition themselves to turn the other cheek, but they also had to condition themselves to "be the bigger person". I commend them for working hard to be able to swallow their pride in order to reach a common goal.

 

                 I love the real side of the non violent movement that this next panel shows. I do not think I personally could have had as much patience and self-control as the people in F.O.R. had. Obviously the man in this scene has the same mindset that a large part of the African American community had. This man chose to leave the group rather than misrepresent them in a situation where he might lose his temper. I have the more respect for this man than any other character in the novel, because he understood his limits and did not want the rest of the group to suffer. He removed himself for the greater good, and this act of honesty is remarkable.

 

 

               Lastly, I chose to use the list of rules that John Lewis wrote as a set of "DO's" and "DON'T's". Lewis noticed that F.O.R. was growing so rapidly that they did not have time to train all new members in the ways of non violence. He made these rules so that the message and goal of the group would be clear to all who wanted to be included. This list showed the group's commitment to non violence and that they were not going to compromise their cause just to achieve numbers. The numbers without the correct mindset would have led to disorganization, but Lewis and F.O.R. took the necessary precautions to unite the masses under their sole purpose....non violence.



                   In conclusion, I had no idea what this graphic novel was going to be about, and I was pleasantly surprised. The Civil Rights Movement is a very important part of American history that gets overlooked, but this novel brought equal rights to the forefront with excellent illustration and facts. I am thankful as an African American woman to those who risked their lives to deal with a harsh reality in a non violent manner. Equality is my reality because of the sacrifices that they made, and the peaceful approach that they took back then is still teaching me lessons on how to deal with situations occurring every single day.