After watching this movie, my reaction was sympathy for what the South Africans were facing, as well as shock and infuriation at what the white South Africans were capable of doing because of the hate and segregation they wanted to demonstrate upon this group of innocent people. After watching this movie, I feel that it's my favorite one that we watched so far in class. To me, human rights are more important than most topics talked about because of the fact that every human deserves to be treated equally. My interest has been learning about justice and human rights not only for the South Africans, but for other races such as Latino/ Hispanic. Even though there may not be segregation anywhere, inequality is still in the world, with the belief that there can be only one dominant race in the world. As many activists have inspired me to stand up for what's right, I have the urge in standing up and bringing equality where it is lacking, and change the way many people think, just like Steve Biko and other influential people did. But most importantly, I think that change should be brought to avoid the suffering of children. The children of any race shouldn't suffer, just as the children attempting to end apartheid suffered, by brutally being shot at. Those children are significant later on in life, since they will represent their race and their culture, and should feel proud about it. They, just as the adults stand up for their human rights, so will the children in bringing freedom and equality no only for themselves, but for an entire minority group, just as Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and Oscar Romero did. Based on watching this movie, what I found most significant in order to help give South Africans a voice was the friendship that shook South Africa and awakened the world. The friendship between Steve Biko and Donald Woods was great, since for one I knew that people in the world that aren't black actually are willing to take a stand, despite the fact that they themselves face the danger of being killed, and also share the same ideas. The fact that there can be people of the opposite race that support one's idea serves as hope that change can happen. I respect Donald Woods because I saw what he had to go through, jeopardizing not only his life, but of his family, but this cause was something that shook him harder than an earthquake, this apartheid was going to be the future, for all black South Africans, and this would've meant many more deaths of innocent people. During the end of the film, when they showed the black activists that died in police custody, I was mad that as much as the deaths were repetitive and dumb, nobody managed to question it and take action for it, since clearly not everyone would've died in such a unintelligent way, knowing that all off these people taking a stand, like Biko were smart by the way they would express themselves and the way they would form ideas in order to protest against what the government was doing. From what I saw, I know the people didn't deserve death by the fact that they used non-violence, causing harm to no one. Today, I still feel that if the people responsible for the deaths of the South African activists are still alive, they should receive punishment for what they deserved. Based on how corrupt the system in the government was, they managed to be innocent, which I didn't think was fair, and also that they have the right to do whatever they please. I would've wanted to know how those white South Africans would feel if at one point all their homes would be destroyed, and if they wanted to protest, they would be shot to death. Everyone is equal. The type of living conditions the black people lived in at the time proved that there wasn't equality in a country that was made up of lies and hate. Based on human rights, there is a difference between that and justice, and I feel the world would be better if people would take that into account, and bring justice to people that need it and deserve it.
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