Cry Freedom Essay, Research Paper

Cry Freedom Summer in Texas, you re stretched out on a big blanket in the middle of Coca-Cola starplex. On the stage Dave Matthew s and the Band are rocking out. The next song on the set is a song called cry freedom. You sit on the blanket and listen to the words. Who is he sing about? you wonder to yourself. The answer is a man named Steve Biko. Steve Biko’s fight for black rights got him killed by the government. His story is told in the movie Cry Freedom. In my essay I will tell you three ways that discriminatory behavior is displayed, I will discuss scenes in the movie of how the South Africans went around the law and I will analyze the character of Donald Woods.Discriminatory behavior was displayed all throughout the movie. One of the main times that I saw was the way white people looked at the black people. It was like they were looking at a circus freak. They didn t like the sight of them so much the black people were segregated from parks and places. Segregation is a major way of discrimination. Another prime example of discrimination was the way the government treated them. They were forced into poverty and kicked the, out of the city into shantytowns. Discrimination was obvious and the government condoned it. That is wrong. The last example I will say is employment. No company would hire a clack person therefore white people had good jobs and the blacks didn t have any jobs. Jobs produced money. No job no money. They were discriminated in the work place. Hardly any company was equal opportunity. Next I will show you how the black freedom fighters went around the law. The main and most incredible way they did it was they staged a soccer game and had a fake game while black radicals talked over a loud speaker. Thousands of black Africans learned about freedom this way. It looked like your typical soccer game. They did have one problem with that. Since the numbers of Africans attending were so large and the economy was so low paid informants of the government turned the radicals in to the government. Another way the Africans snuck around the laws is focused on Steve Biko. He was followed 24/7 by the government but he would either sneak out or lead the government on a wild goose chase. He would outsmart the government. One more way I think I could think of was how the blacks snuck the papers out of the house inside the baby s diaper. They would use sneaky ways to spread information. These are just a few ways the blacks went around the law .

The last think I will write about tonight is how the character of Donald Woods changed. It is obvious to me that there was a change in his life. Steve Biko changed him into a pure hearted man who was truly good. It takes a lot to be a good person these days and I think that Donald was good. He stood up for ways that were unacceptable and took a stand for what he believes and not what he was taught. That is good. At the beginning Donald Woods did not like Steve Biko. This was the first out of three stages in the relationship between Steve and Donny. You see Woods didn t like him because he didn t know how Biko lived or what he was going through or what life was like for him. He was blind and ignorant to what Steve Biko was about. Now there was a second stage of unsureness. Donald like Steve forms the get go because of the time they spent together. Woods would go out on limb to learn about Steve I think that Biko amazed Woods. You can tell this because of the all the time they spent together. One particular instance was when Steve and Woods were saying goodbye. Biko gave him the biggest smile like you give your best friend. Here you could tell that Woods and Biko were friends. The stage was after Biko died. To prove how much Biko inspired Woods he went through banishment and death to spread the word. This is when you can tell that Biko taught him about people. This is when Woods becomes good. Because of all the trouble he went for to spread the word of people he was born to discriminate. He came form a prejudice attitude to a friend to all Black South Africans.In this paper I have identified three ways of discriminatory behavior from White South Africans, I have also discussed three ways the government went around the Law to spread the word of freedom and I have analyzed the character of Donald woods. I thought the Dave Matthew s thing was very interesting ask me and I will give you the web page I found it from. Maybe Dave Mathews is like a Donald Woods in his way. Let the word live on and don t forget to Cry Freedom!