Radio

Radio Otis L. Amos Essentials of College Writing MEICS 109 Angela P. Townsend The movie “Radio” is based on a true story about an African American man named Robert Kennedy. Robert Kennedy is played by Cuba Gooding Jr. in the movies. The movie takes place in the 1960’s during the time of the Civil Rights Movement and racial unrest that occurred in a lot of Southern towns. The character, Radio, suffers from a mental disability that has caused him to have limited speech, motor skills and learning capacities. Radio lives with his mother in South Carolina and is somewhat sheltered from society because of his disability by his mother. Radio got his name from the players and coach at the local high school (Hanna), because he always carried his transistor radio with him. Radio carried his transistor because he loved music. He also used to push a grocery cart around the city collecting whatever he could to put in it. The Football Coach Harold Jones played by “Ed Harris” discovered that Radio had been hanging around the school and the football field. Radio initially would not talk with anyone, but after constant attempts by Coach Harold, Radio began to trust him and eventually starts to verbally communicate a little with the coach and team members. Coach Harold met a lot of resistances from the towns’ people and Radio’s mother because of his relationship with Radio. Radio’s mother was very protective of him and was hesitant of his relationship and motives with her son. Coach Harold eventually convinced her that he had Radio’s best interest at heart. Coach Harold was able to solicit the help of his family and football team to help Radio, in improving his skills socially and academically. The people in the town were very resistant in having radio at the school and they also felt that the Coach was spending too much time with him. Eventually, because of Coach Harold’s respect from the students and towns’ people he was able to convince them to allow Radio to enroll as a student at the school and to also work as an assistant trainer for the football team. Coach Harold was able to be a mentor to Radio as well as a teacher helping him to develop skills academically, socially and mentally. The disability that Radio had was Brain Damage that was caused by a car accident at the age of 5. The characteristic of brain damage are thinking, reasoning, understanding words, remembering things, focusing, problems solving, abstract thinking, talking, behavior, walking and other physical activities, seeing, hearing and learning problems. Radio had problems thinking, remembering, some physical problems, learning and some communication limitations. I do believe that Radio’s character and disability was realistic, as stated early the characteristics that were focused on in the movie were all symptoms that a person might have who would have Brain Damage. Radio’s experiences are somewhat different than a person without a disability because during person without a disability would not have as many problems with obtaining an education, difficulty speaking and defending themselves when ridiculed by others. The person without a disability would not have to fight for the right to have a free and public education this time in the country they were guaranteed a right to free and equal education. The one thing in the movie that I could identity with Radio was his experienced with racial discrimination, which was not unusual for any Black person living in the South during the sixties. I believe that it is very easy for African Americans and other minorities to understand what discrimination feels like in American from a racial standpoint because at some time they have experienced it. I don’t feel that in the beginning of the movie that Radio thought very much of himself or thought that he was capably of achieving much in life. Radio was sheltered and isolated because of his exceptionality and because of his race he was not able to function as normal people and was not accepted by the society. I do believe that once Coach Harold befriended Radio and started to help him work on himself socially, emotionally, physically, academically and he was able to show him that he loved him, Radio felt better about himself. Coach Harold helped Radio pull from his strengths and not focus on the negatives, which increased his confidence and helped him to grow as a person. The people in the town looked down on Radio and did not want to have any dealings with him because of his disability and his race. They also felt that they were better than Radio and they did not want their children around him because he was different and they did not understand him. Coach Harold who was Radio’s best friend and mentor had to make a lot of changes as it related to his family, job and his community. He was ridiculed and ostracized because of his relationship and compassion for Radio. Once Coach Harold was able to show his family, football team, co-workers and town’s people that Radio was not a threat his relationship was better. In spite of all the good work that Radio did and the Coach did there were still people in the community that did not accept Radio because he was different from them. In society there will always be people that discriminate against other people because they are different whether it is based on race, disability, religion, education or financial status, but as a teacher, I feel that it is my job to educate our children about differences and diversity so that they will be part of the solution and not the problem. America is suppose to be the melting pot of society that sets an example for other countries to follow as it relates to dealing with differences in society. The truth of the matter is that because we have laws still on the books that have to make people treat everyone equal and not discriminate against them, says that we still have a lot of work to do. References: LIVING WITH SPIRIT! (RADIO), http://www.jimmathis.com/index.php'module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page Symptoms of Brain Injury, http://www.brainjury.com/symptoms.html, pages 1-3 Traumatic Brain Injury, http://www.nichcy.org/pubs/facshe/fs18txt.htm), ay 2006, p.1-9.