Freedom Writers win another award

By Marianna Noceti
Online Forty-Niner
Contributing Writer

The Freedom Writers have added another award to their collection. The John Anson Ford Award, for human relations, will be handed to the Freedom Writers on Oct. 14, at the Los Angeles Cathedral, sponsored by Fox TV.

The Freedom Writers began in the mid 1990s with 150 at risk students from Wilson High School. Erin Gruwell, a first-year teacher, saw a racist caricature of one of the students and told the class that it reminded her of the genocides. Her first assignment was for the class to read "The Diary of Anne Frank" and begin writing in journals. Later, the journal entries were collectively published as "The Freedom Writer's Diary," Gruwell said at Museum of Latin American Art in March 2004.

Last Thursday, Tony McEwing, co-anchor of Fox 11 Morning News came to the CSULB Student Union to interview some of the recipients.

"He took a couple shots of us walking up the stairs but spoke to Erin most of the time," said Mauricio Becerra, one of the recipients.

Becerra is an active team member to the Gruwell Project, a group of 30 students who received college scholarships to attend CSULB. Because of their background they are able to relate to the students and give them hope.

"The [John Anson Ford] award goes to people who make a difference in L.A. County," said Gruwell.

Among the dozens of awards received, the Spirit of Anne Frank Award tops both Becerra and Gruwell's list.

"It was the coolest award because that's what we were learning," Becerra said.

At 17-years-old, Becerra and 50 classmates flew to New York to accept the award. He felt honored because the other two groups who won the award were both from New York.

In 2003, "The Freedom Writer's Diary" was chosen by the Long Beach Public Library Foundation for its Long Beach Reads One Book program.

Co-chair of the program and Executive Editor of the Long Beach Press-Telegram, Rich Archbold, has published numerous stories on the Freedom Writers and has pushed for their book to be read in many high schools, because the problems faced by the students are problems most high school students have.

"These were students, who many adults had given up on and now, through the dedicated work of one teacher, Erin Gruwell, these students were motivated to do something good with their lives," Archbold said.