After watching the Legacy movie in
class it showed me how the many troubles the family were facing living in the
projects with little to no income was a problem that had been following them
for multiple generations and years.
Seeing this it also showed how many other people are facing the same
problems as they are in trying to get out of these situations. In their situation there was a single mother
who was raising five children on her own with some help from her grandmother
who was also stuck in the projects.
Seeing that every child had different fathers who also didn’t help with
child support made their situation that much harder in the long run. The mother also didn’t have any education
higher than the eleventh grade due to her pregnancy with her first child at sixteen,
which then limited her chances of ever getting a career. In the movie we see how she had collected
welfare for many years, as she wasn’t able to get a good paying job for her to
support her kids. At one point she even
hid the fact that she had a job stocking shelves at a store for $6.50 an hour
so that she could still continue collecting the welfare checks as she needed them. This showed me that although she was able to
get a job, it was one that was so low paying that it didn’t allow her to gain
the necessary income that could keep her family from being on welfare. As she went to the welfare office, she has
also started speaking with a woman about day care facilities as she was going
to enter a training program for working at an elderly home. Here she had missed the meeting and wasn’t
given the job but, therefore had an argument with the people running the
program because they had lied about providing childcare for her children. Here I can see that her education and lack of
help watching her children were greatly influencing her into not getting a
better job or future career. After
countless job mishaps, she had finally found a job at a school helping teach kindergarten
which then in the future led to a future job for her after the teach
certificates and schooling she had to take.
This showed me that although she didn’t have much education to begin
with, the connections she had gained from her grandma knowing the principle had
helped gain her to some education and a decent paying job for her. This also then led her to getting off of
welfare in the long run. This is a big
representation into how education in today’s society is something that is very
critical into getting a good job or well paying career. Also, it did help show how having and making
connections with people around you could help with job opportunities as well.
The movie also showed the life of
the narrator Nicole who was the oldest daughter of the family. She had seen what her mother and grandmother
had gone through and made sure that she took every opportunity to better
herself. Although she didn’t have a
father, she had a mentor Kenny who helped her achieve better schooling by
finding scholarships and financial aid so that she could attend a private
catholic school outside of her neighborhood.
This is a big example into how public schooling in low income level
neighborhoods are suffering at a rate that students in the end suffer as
well. By her seeking outside schooling
it allowed her to gain a better education as well as a shot of attending
college even if her family didn’t have the sufficient income to do so. As she attended school she didn’t want her
fellow classmates to know her family was on income and tried every way to hide
it therefore. This showed me that it could
be embarrassing for the people that are put in these positions when they have
no chance of changing it. As she
graduates high school and was on her way to NIU, her grandmother and mother are
seen crying tears of joy as she was or seemed to be the first of her family to
do so. This showed how there was change
for their family and the legacy of them being in the projects was
changing.
Another part of the movie was where
she had lost her cousin Terrel due to him being shot from a peer. He was seen as the hope for their family
because he was so well educated and appeared to be motivated to gain a better
life. This is a big problem in projects
today where violence is all over the place.
Many people die in shootings, drug issues, sicknesses, etc because of
the resources or lack of that are around them.
His mother had also been one who was addicted to crack and other types
of drugs. It showed greatly in how her
family and the community saw her and lost all hope of her getting better for
her family. Drug abuse and addiction is
a major problem that can cause people to do whatever they must in order to
obtain what they “need” to cope with their addictions. As she had gone through rehab and succeeded,
she was able to find a job and start taking care of her own kids.
Throughout this whole movie there
was many different examples into how and why people are stuck in situations
they are in when living in poverty stricken areas. It was interesting to see how people lived in
these situations and how Nicole and her family had finally after many years
started to obtain better lifestyles for themselves. Many people are stuck in these situations
however and it is very hard for them to dig themselves out due to the lack of
their resources. 
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