Category: W.PK-12.2 (Writing | Text Types and Purposes)

When Edward James Olmos wanted to deliver a strong anti-drug and anti-gang message to kids in the barrios in his film American Me, he went home to East Los Angeles. There he invited young gang members like George Sarabia and Gil Espinoza as extras and crewmembers. He hoped to demystify the glamour of gangs, while giving kids new skills and a way out of the gang world. Before he met Eddie, George had only one goal in life: to come back from prison a hero — having earned his “stripes.” He now shares his life-changing story with other young people, asking them to stop the violence. “We all have a choice. You can do whatever you want to do,” George says. Then he pauses and adds, with quiet intensity, “Think about it. What you could do. What you could be.”

Mahatma Gandhi had a very ambitious mission: to teach total nonviolence to the people of India. He had used civil disobedience and his fasts to free India from British imperialism in 1946. Now he wanted to teach his people how to create peace and racial harmony. “We are one human race,” he would say. “Religion must unify us, not divide us.” In this inspiring story, Gandhi’s grandson tells the story of how the great teacher helped Souren Bannetji, whose life had been ruined by religious hatred, to set aside anger and vengeance and learn how to forgive. Out of tragedy, Souren could create a new life for himself and his new family. He came to understand Gandhi’s words: “Change can come only one life at a time.”