It's the dumb class cuz. It means you too dumb.
Man, say it to my face cuz.
I just did. See what I mean? Dumb?
Erin Gruwell
Hilary Swank · 14 quotes
Andre
Mario · 8 quotes
Eva
Giselle Bonilla · 6 quotes
Marcus
6 quotes
Brandy
Vanetta Smith · 3 quotes
Jamal
Deance Wyatt · 3 quotes
Tito
Gabriel Chavarria · 3 quotes
Gloria
Kristin Herrera · 2 quotes
Margaret Campbell
Imelda Staunton · 2 quotes
Miep Gies
Pat Carroll · 2 quotes
Sindy
Jaclyn Ngan · 2 quotes
Alejandro
Sergio Montalvo · 1 quote
Most scenes together: Erin Gruwell & Andre (4), Erin Gruwell & Marcus (3), Erin Gruwell & Eva (3)
Freedom Writers quotes
Page 1 of 3
Ben
Ms. G, we can fight this y'know, like the Freedom Riders.
Yeh yeh, we all drive around on a bus, only this time they try and bust us up we bust a few of them board member's heads.
Or we can go to the newspapers. Media...?
Or we can paint the administration building with the word assholes, in various colours.
Does anyone know Homer's the Odyssey?
I know Homer the Simpson.
I love you.
Steve Gruwell
You love the idea of me.
The evaluation assignment was to grade yourself on the work you're doing. You gave yourself an "F". What's that about?
It's what I feel I deserve, that's all.
Oh really? [pause] You know what this is? This is a "**** You" to me and everyone in this class. I don't want excuses. I know what you're up against. We're all of us up against something. So you better make up your mind, because until you have the balls to look me straight in the eye and tell me this is all you deserve, I am not letting you fail. Even if that means coming to your house every night until you finish the work. I see who you are. Do you understand me? I can see you. And you are not failing.
You don't feel respected, Eva, is that what you're saying? Well, maybe you're not. But to get respect, you have to give it.
That's bullshit.
What?
Why should I give you my respect to you, lady? Because you're a teacher? I don't know you. How do I know you're not a liar standing up there? How do I know you're not a bad person standing up there? I'm not just gonna give you my respect because you're called a teacher.
White people wanting their respect like they deserve it for free.
I'm a teacher, it doesn't matter what color I am.
It's all about color. It's about people deciding what you deserve, about people wanting what they don't deserve! About whites thinking they own this world, no matter what. You see, I hate white people.
You hate me?
Yeah.
You don't even know me.
I know what you can do. I saw white cops shoot my friend in the back for reaching into his pocket, his pocket! I saw white cops break into my house and take my father away for no reason except because they feel like it! Except because they can! And they can, because they're white. So I hate white people on sight!
[after a short silence, turns to Ben, the only white student present]
Ben, do you have anything to say?
Ben
[quietly, awkwardly]
Can I please get out of here?
Lady, stop actin' like you tryin' to understand our situation, and just do your little babysittin' up there.
That's all you think this is?
It ain't nothing else. When I look out in the world I don't see nobody that looks like me with their pockets full unless they're rapping a lyric or dribbling a ball, so what else you got in here for me?
And what if you can't rap a lyric or dribble a ball?
It ain't this. I know that much.
Damn right.
And you all think you're gonna make it to graduation like this?
I made it to high school, ain't nobody stop me.
Lady, I'm lucky if I make it to eighteen. We in a war! We graduatin' every day we live because we ain't afraid to die protecting our own. At least when you die for your own, you die with respect, you die a warrior!
[While playing the Line Game, in which Erin makes the class reveal that they have more in common than they care to admit]
Who has been to jail or a juvenile hall?
Does a refugee camp count?
You decide. [Sindy stands on the line]
So when's Anne Frank gonna smoke Hitler?
Keep reading.
I've never had a hero before. But you are my hero.
Oh, no. No, no, no, young man, no. I am not a hero. No. I did what I had to do, because it was the right thing to do. That is all.
No, that don't fly Ma.
First of all I'm not anybody's mother.
No, that's not what it means.
It's a sign of respect... for you.
That Miep Gies lady, the one that help hide her, I like her. I got all these other books about her from the library.
Wow, you used your library card?
Nah...
You're an honor student. If you transfer to Mrs. Gruwell's class, think how that'll reflect on your records.
Victoria
It doesn't matter to me, my grades will still be the same. Look, Ms. Campbell, when I first transferred to this school, I had a 4.0 average. But when I applied for advanced placement in English and Math, I was told it'd be better for me to be in a class of my own kind. Now, when I did get in, my teacher said "Victoria! It's not everyday one finds an African American student in AP and Honors courses!"... As if I didn't notice. And when I asked another Honors teacher why we don't read more black literature, she said, "We don't read black literature because of all the sex, drugs, cussing, and fornication". I thought a simple... "It's inappropriate"... would have sufficed.
[Following Erin's impassioned speech about the Nazi Holocaust] [Raises hand]
What's a holocaust?
Who here knows what the Holocaust is? [All keep their hands down except Ben, the only white kid, who sheepishly raises his] Who here has ever been shot at? [All raise their hands except Ben, who lowers his]
[after Marcus calls her "his hero"]
Oh no. No, no, young man, no, I am not a hero. No, I did what I had to do because... it was the right thing to do. That is all. Now we are all ordinary people, but even an ordinary secretary or a housewife or a teenager can, within their own small ways, turn on a small light in a dark room, ja? I have read your letters, and your teacher has been telling me many things about your experiences. You are the heroes. You are heroes every day. Your faces are engraved in my heart.