The movie Walk Out is based on a true story of a political movement that took place in East Los Angeles California during the year 1968. The mission of the students in this film was to bring about massive policy changes with regard to how they were treated in school. The movie aired on HBO in 2006 and inspired similar movements in other areas of the United States. There were many stars that made this film a success. Two of them are Edward James Olmos and Michael Pena (pronounced Pen-ya). Olmos was actually the producer of the movie and he also played the part of Julian Nava, an influential member of the school board of who finally listened to the requests of the students. Michael Pena played the part of Sal Castro. He was the history teacher that motivated the students to stand up for themselves. The main character was Paula Crisostomo who was played by Alexa Vega. These students were forced to attend school while enduring terrible mistreatment for just one reason only (which was beyond their control). It was simply because of their Mexican heritage.
This was the reality of a culture that was disregarded. In fact, according to the history books they were using in school, their ancestors contributed nothing to American wars and inventions. Purposefully, these Mexican students were set up to believe that they have nothing in history to be proud of. This was done by the school system and fortunately, they had a brave and highly educated teacher to remind them that they have a history to be proud of. The Mexican students had to do three things to bring an end to daily harsh conditions: unite as one voice, overcome rejection and face brutality.
Some of the treatment suffered by the students was quite painful to watch. If a student was caught speaking Spanish during class, they would have to bend over for a spanking with a paddle in front of the class. They were not allowed to use the bathroom during lunch and were in fact banned from entering the building. If a young man had to urinate in the bushes, it was not so shocking. However, to watch a young lady hold up her skirt and bend over to relieve herself in the bushes is terribly sad. As if that were not dehumanizing enough, the students were forced to do janitorial work both inside and outside of the building. Paula saw something very wrong with the system and she was determined to do something about it. Ironically, she was one of the students who was somewhat favored by the school administrative and guidance staff. Because of her excellent grades, she was encouraged to fill out college applications. However she was also encouraged to keep quiet and not to stir up trouble when she expressed a desire to unite with other students who wanted better treatment. On the other hand, the other students were not encouraged to attend college by the guidance counselors. They were nudged to settle for mechanic or secretarial jobs. They were expected to accept having limited potential. It is amazing how the tactic of treating Mexicans differently could have potentially set them at odds with one another but it only brought them together stronger.
Paula knew better than most, the pain of being Mexican in Los Angeles. The pain was being trapped in between the rock of mistreatment and the sweet life of success that she struggled to reach. For her, success was more than just going to college. She truly wanted everyone to become aware, speak out and go to college. It was a pleasure to see how diligent and dedicated she was. Paula was bold enough to stand up to her father when she said, “I just don’t want to be like you!” When she said those words to her father it really hurt his feelings. He was forced to consider how complacent and ignorant he was to the way his children were being treated by the school system. He might have the excuse that he just didn’t want his daughter to get in trouble or lose her high grade point average. However, he truly turned his back on her when she tried to fight for equality. For that reason, he became one of the adversaries that slithered lower than the school system imposing the impression. The thing that made him worse than the Caucasian enemy was that his own daughter was trying to bring about freedom and justice for her own people and he was an insensitive wind trying to break her brand new wings. Prior to viewing the verbal mirror Paula held to her father’s face, thus forcing him to reconsider his stubborn ways, Paula was denied permission to attend a field trip with her fellow classmates. This was a retreat with all of her peers to celebrate their heritage around a campfire with true stories of Mexican history. This was where they began to organize groups that would meet several times per week and stage a political movement. The whole silver lining in this portion of the struggle was that Paula’s mother signed the permission slip; she believed in her daughter and even joined her in a march later on in the move. Although Paula’s father did praise her for standing up to him later, it hardly makes up for him rejecting her plight in the beginning.
The struggles at home and at school came as only two sections to the braid of opposition. There was a love interest who turned out to be the Judas. He should have never been so lucky to kiss the lips of Paula but he earned her hugs as well by pretending that he was a part of the struggle. Not to mention, he simply capitalized on the physical attraction between the two of them. Paula was all set to attend a school dance with this charming young man. Her night of romance ended in horror when a lot of her friends were thrown into jail. She later found out on the steps of the jail house that her beloved sweetheart was an undercover officer who was the information for the police department. This was how they became aware of the plans discussed in the secret meetings held by the students. To summarize the conflicts, Paula had to endure heartbreak from the boy she really cared for, rejection from her own father and rejection from a corrupt school system who disregarded her hunger for a great education. She had to watch her own peers endure the cruelty of the school as well. She alone was the person who carried the cross of bravery on her back because some of them were afraid to ask for change. Paula had to make such impossible sacrifices and she did this with complete regard or the future of her people. She risked being rejected from school, colleges and her own family in order to fight for what she believed.
Despite this being all of the reasons why a person might be overcome with sadness while watching the film, there were some reason to get excited. Paula surrounded herself by other students from other schools who shared her views. She was an inspiration to her friends. Each meeting ended with the students becoming more empowered and growing larger in number as more schools caught onto the magic that was brewing. There was even a group of boys who wore brown hats similar to those worn by members of the African American Black Panther Party. They were viewed by the police as militant trouble makers. Their bravery was beyond what can be described in words as was the bravery of Paula. Just as the magic lead up to the protest, the heartbreaking police brutality brought on the tears.
The police were swinging their solid pain-inflicting sticks at the students as if they were cockroaches. This was one of the walkouts that ended with many students being hospitalized. It caught the attention of the media which sparked outrage in the community. There were images of girls being tossed against lockers, fences and sidewalks. They were beaten in the head, face and torso, kicked and handcuffed. Boys were attacked by two and three police at the same time. They were all using stick and causing screams of terror. The students were trying to run for their safety and the police were chasing them relentlessly. There was no reason to beat these young people in that way. Although it was a very convincing re-enactment, the sadness weighs heavy on the audience because the movie explains from the beginning that it is based on a true story. It is therefore safe to assume that whatever happened during the police brutality scenes, the real victims of 1968 received punishing blows that were ten times worse. It was reminiscent of the plight of the Freedom Riders in the south eastern United States. These young college students were also beaten for trying to get service at a White lunch counter. What is even more bothersome is that the movie doesn’t mention any of the police officers being held accountable for their abusive acts. They were allowed to go on with their lives as if they had done nothing wrong.
With no intentions of being ambiguous, it must be stated that as evil as those beatings were, they seemed to be absolutely necessary. It is synonymous with the logic that Christ had to die for the sins of the world, for those who believe in Jesus. The reason for this is simple. The very first time the students walked out of their classrooms and school building simultaneously at 9:00 am, there was no media coverage. They students were not really taken seriously. The faculty was annoyed but it was (like their history teacher mentioned), “like as if it never happened”. They students could have given up and yet they persevered. The time that the walk out brought so many police attacks, became the event that brought about a lot of media coverage by every news team in the city. The beatings of the girls and gang-like beatings of the boys were aired on television for the whole community to see. It took the parents watching their children suffer from police brutality in order for them to feel as if the abuse was too much. Ironically, it would make anyone wonder why the schools were allowed to paddle-whip their children in the first place. It was acceptable when they were only being humiliated and whipped with a wooden paddle in front of the class. Yet, being thrown to the dirty, hard concrete and beaten into a bloody pile of broken bones was just not acceptable. Yet, this had to be whipped and surrounded by screaming horror in order for people to see the inhumane rules they were subjected to at school. This is why the brutality was absolutely necessary, although it should have never happened in the first place.
After watching these scenes a couple of times, the anger was bubbling for three reasons. The first reason was that none of those children should have been pulverized like animals any more than they should have been smacked with wooden paddles in the classrooms. The second reason is that the parents should have been seeking better conditions in their children’s schools. Instead, they were wandering around blindly waiting for their kids to rise up or turning a blind eye to the issues. One can only imagine that there were likely other students whose parents discouraged them from “running with those instigators” (the words of Paula’s father). The third reason is that none of the police were shown to be held accountable in the movie. None of them were shown to have been disciplined with pay checks garnished, successful lawsuits pinned against them or even the seizure of their badges and weapons. They went right on enjoying the good life as though they had done nothing wrong.
In conclusion, Walk Out was a film that showed how powerful one person’s bravery could be. It became contagious, and sparked a group of young people who in turn sparked a nation of people to stand up against injustice. Paula was like her friends described her, “smart and smarter than others”. She wasn’t smarter due to higher grades. She was smarter because she looked beyond the present. She was smarter because she knew they deserved better. Other people wanted better treatment but Paula knew they were entitled to better treatment. She was compassionate not only because she loved her Mexican people, but she had a deep concern for their future every bit as much as her own. She didn’t just fill out college applications; she had her friends complete college applications. She was a little naive when she gave her heart to the handsome young pretender. But she bravely looked him in the face when she recognized his betrayal. She carried on the torch even when it hurt her arms to hold a picket sign. Paula along with her teacher and peers was an inspiration for people of all cultures.
Reference:
Olmos, Edward James, dir. Walk Out. Dir. Moctesuma Esparza, and Robert Katz. HBO, 2006. Film. 8 Dec 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30r5qg4DcC4>.
