I don’t know if you remember but I wrote a blog post about Erin Brockovich after watching the movie about her starring Julia Roberts, if you want to read the post click here. Back then I wrote about her contribution and enormous commitment in the lawsuit against Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PE & G), which poisoned the groundwater to the inhabitants of the town Hinkley. Brockovich and her team found toxic chemicals in the drinking water that could lead to cancer and other serious illnesses. Today Erin Brockovich still is a well know environmental activist and has been given a lot of attention in the media lately for looking into a teens' mystery ailment at Le Roy Junior-Senior High School.
At Le Roy there has been a mystical outbreak of teenagers suffering from facial tics, verbal outbursts and uncontrollable muscle contractions, and no one knows what is causing this mysterious ailment. The doctor Jennifer McVige thinks that the students are suffering from “mass psychogenic illness” which is a rare sickness where emotional responses are covered into physical symptoms, but Erin Brockovich seems to believe otherwise. In 1970 there was a chemical spill from a train only 3 miles from the future high school. Brockovich suspects that when the school was built in 2003 some of the contaminated soil may have been used during construction. The fact that Brockovich and an accompanying group were ordered off the property of Le Roy Junior-Senior High School when trying to find answers makes her theory highly reasonable.
Here is a link to a short report about the mysterious case.
We watched the movie “The Great Debaters” in class the other day, a movie I recommend everyone to see. The film draws inspiration from the true story of the temperamental, inspiring, wise and political engaged debate coach and professor at the “black” college Wiley, Melvin B. Tolson. The plot builds around Wiley college debate team and Mr Tolson and their struggle towards the title as winners of the national championship. But in addition to telling us about Melvin and the debate team’s accomplishments “The Great Debaters” also shows us the unpleasant and unimaginable conditions for Afro-Americans in the early 20th century.
For me the fact that the movie focuses on the extreme racism that existed in The US in the beginning of the 20th century, was the main reason to see it. When learning about racism in school the theme has always been combined with great and historical persons like Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King jr, Rosa Parks and Nelson Mandela. I had never heard of Melvin B. Tolson or realized how horrible coloured people were treated in USA in the 1930s, before watching this movie. In my opinion a part of “The Great Debaters” success is because it enlightens people and makes them more aware of a historical period that hasn’t been given much attention earlier. It is also the main reason why I recommend you all to see “The Great Debaters” because it tells an important story that deserves to be heard.
I really like how the director and scrip-writer have managed to melt the story about Wiley college debate team and the story of the discriminatory Jim Crow laws of the 1930s into one story. Wiley collage debate team’s struggle of becoming national champions and the fight against racism becomes one major, touching and inspiring combat. The characters in the film fights against suppression, racism and injustice the same way they compete in debates - A debate begins with a resolution. It starts with a point to prove. It is a form of battle, fought with words.
Underneath you can watch the closing argument to one of the main characters James Farmer jr, during their debate against Harvard.
"The Great Debaters" is an inspiring story of curage, creativity and resolve, and it is a movie worth watching!
-picture-MOV_b726c816_b.jpg)
