The Great Debaters

"The state is currently spending five times more for the education for a white child than it is fitting to educate a colored child. That means better textbooks for that child than for that child. I say that's a shame, but my opponent says today is not the day for whites and coloreds to go to the same college. To share the same campus. To walk into the same classroom. Well, would you kindly tell me when that day is gonna come? Is it going to come tomorrow? Is it going to come next week? In a hundred years? Never? No, the time for justice, the time for freedom, and the time for equality is always, is always right now! ( Booke, Samantha, The Great Debaters)"

That is the basis of the phenomenal movie "The Great Debaters (2007)". This true story movie takes place in 1935 at Wiley College Texas, an all black college, where Henry Lowe, Samantha Booke, and James Farmer Jr. use their voices to be heard throughout the country. During a time where blacks are lynched for just existing, they are lead by Mr. Tolson (Denzel Washington) to show no fear, that their only opponent is God. They compete in debates about a range of topics, from laws to education to human rights. This story follows their success from bottom to top. They defeat all of their opponents even opponents from white colleges. They go to show the color of your skin has nothing to do with the will power of your mind. Their biggest challenge of all is when they are given the opportunity to compete against Harvard. When it comes down to whether or not blacks and whites should attend school together. They debate comes right down to the bone, going back and forth. When James Farmer Jr. is the last to argue that's where every oppurtunity and every chance of winning is put under the microscope.

This movie is truly inspirational. When they speak in this movie you can hear the passion in their voices. I have to give this movie two thumbs up. It motivates you to stand up for what you believe in.