BOOK: The Freedom Writers Diary

[mjm076]

I’m torn about whether to purchase the book “The Freedom Writers Diary” again. I first bought the book back in 2007 when I was a freshman in High School and I saw the movie based on the book that had come out in January 2007. The copy I had was a Movie Tie-In version with the film’s poster as the cover.

This year marks the twentieth anniversary of the book and so it is being re-released with new Diary entries for it’s anniversary. I’ve always been inspired by the story and the book inspired me to start keeping a regular journal as well as being the springboard for my interest in 20th century history.

The reason I am torn about purchasing the 20th Anniversary of the Book is two reasons:

1. One of the entries uses God’s name in vain twice when referring to reading “The Catcher in the Rye” and being sent to one’s room.
2. One of the entries in the diary is in which a young male student receives a story a female classmate wrote about getting an abortion. She doesn’t describe the experience in a positive light, saying when her unborn baby died, a part of her died. However, the student editing the story tells how even though he wishes his girlfriend, who also had an abortion, had told him she was pregnant, that the decision was up to her. He also writes that even though there are question’s of “What If?” (“What if we had kept the baby?”) He describes the abortion as a major solution.

The rest of the book deals with other difficult topics such as sexual abuse, racism, other forms of abuse, and drug use as well their experiences with their teacher, Miss Gruwell, who used the Holocaust and the Bosnian War to teach them about Tolerance etc. The kids she had were in gangs, foster care, had been in jail etc. All 150 graduated from High School in 1998.

I feel torn as I worry that if I were buy the book I would be supporting their foundation which unfortunately is quite liberal (pro-LGBT, anti-Trump etc.)

I’ve thought of buying the book but ripping out the pages with the Pro-Abortion diary entry and white-outing the passage where God’s name is used in Vain.

Thoughts?

 

[Viki63]

I would buy the book if you want it, and not rip out pages. If you are going to read widely, you will often run into ideas that are counter to your beliefs. As Christians, we know that truth is nothing for us to fear. So whatever is true, we should not shy away from. It won’t hurt us to be exposed to other people’s beliefs; in fact it might encourage us to examine our own beliefs in opposition to others’.

If we understand where other people are coming from regarding abortion, we will be better prepared to talk to them if it comes up. If we avoid reading anything that contradicts what we think, we are living in a bubble.

As far as supporting the foundation by buying the book, it sounds like they are mainly supporting literacy. It’s your call, but if I stopped patronizing every organization that was liberal, I’d have to move into a cave. And every time you read God’s name used wrongly, you could offer a prayer for the author.

We are to be in the world, though not of it.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

It’s a book about the creative writing and thought process of a bunch of at-risk kids, not a manifesto of viewpoints you have to adopt. And as the previous poster said, the idea of the foundation is to encourage literacy and thought among at-risk kids, not to make everybody agree with whatever viewpoint each kid expressed in the book. However, if you don’t feel comfortable supporting the foundation, you can always buy a used copy of the book, and no money will go to the foundation; it will only go to the bookseller or charity selling the used book.

If it bothers you to have a book around with God’s name in vain then you can certainly white out the name where it appears. As for the pro-abortion diary entry, I’d leave it in, because it’s good to understand the thought processes of people who disagree with you. It’s the same way people who study apologetics need to understand the counterarguments that might come up. It will make you more effective in opposing abortion to understand why someone might think abortion is okay, so you can counter that.

 

[mjm076]

Thanks for the advice guys! I have ordered the book but will rip out the Pro-Abortion page and such. I still appreciate with Erin Gruwell did with those kids, just unfortunate some of the views they hold.