Sydney to the Max Season 5: Episode 11 - Canceling the Truth

Written By: "Fun But Shy Girl", Based on Characters Created by: Mark Reisman

Max was walking down the stairs of his home as Sydney, Sophia, and Emmy walked in through the front door. As the three girls put their backpacks down, Sydney said, "Hey dad. How was your day?" Then Max said, "Oh there's been lots of crying and barely any sleeping all day." Sydney then said, "Oh. So our baby sister has been acting up all day?" Then Max said, "Actually I've been the one crying and barely sleeping. I had almost forgotten how draining having a newborn is. But how was school for you girls today?" Then Sydney said, "Well we all started working on a project we're all really excited about. The board of education is having this contest where we can write a story about any of our ancestors, and the ten best stories will actually get published in an actual real book that will be distributed across the country. The only requirement is the story has to be true, and we have to have documentation that proves the events we write about really happened. And so after we discovered that journal that talked all about how my ancestor Tyra Carter escaped slavery and helped other runaway slaves in the 1800's, I thought it be great to finally get her story told to the masses."

With a smile, Max said, "That sounds amazing. Are any of you other girls gonna try out for this contest too?" Then an excited looking Emmy said, "Yeah. Before he died, my grandfather told me about how back in the 1960's he met Cesar Chavez and joined his protest for better wages for Spanish speaking immigrant workers in California." Then Sophia said, "Yeah. And my mom kept all of my great-grandmother's diaries about how she moved to this country in the 1920's from Italy and the struggles she had to provide for her family back then." Then Max said, "Well I know I'd buy a book with all of these great stories you girls are preparing to tell." Then Sydney with a smile said, "Okay girls. Lets go to my room. It's time to do some homework. Wow. I don't think I've ever been excited to do homework before." Then the three girls headed up the stairs together.

Three Months Later:

Sydney, Sophia, and Emmy were sitting in the cafeteria eating their food and talking with one another. The three girls looked a bit upset as Sophia said, "I can't believe none of our stories won the contest and made it into that book." A frustrated looking Emmy then said, "I know. I mean I did research to make sure I got all my facts right for my story. Research! I had never done that before in my life." Sydney sighed and then said, "Listen. I know we all worked hard on our stories, but so did lots of other teenagers out there. I mean there's always going to be somebody better than you at anything, and that's okay." Then Olive walked over to the three girls and said, "Hey guys. I got a copy of that book containing the winning works of that family history contest. I know none of your stories made it in, but do you wanna check it out?" Sydney held a hand out and said, "Might as well. Give it here." As Olive sat next to Sydney, Sydney looked through the book and began to flip through the pages.

A curious Sophia then said, "Well what kind of stories are in there?" Then Sydney said, "Well the first story here is about one guy's grandfather who performed comedy in the early night clubs." Then Emmy said, "Well I guess they wanted to start the book out on a lighter note." Then Sydney said, "Yeah, but the other stories are about people's family members who worked on early computers, worked with big tech companies in their infancy, and multiple stories of great-grandparents that served in World War 2." Then as Sydney handed the book to Emmy, Emmy flipped through the pages and said, "Wait a minute. Look at all of these pictures. All of the individuals this book is about are white." Then Sophia looked through the book and said, "And none of them were even immigrants." A concerned looking Olive then said, "Why do you think that is?"

Then another girl walked near the table, noticed the book the four girls were looking at, and said, "Oh. Let me guess. You're disappointed your stories didn't get into that book either?" Sydney then looked at the girl and said, "Yeah Callie. Wait. You sent a story to the contest too?" Then Callie said, "Yeah. I wrote about the injustices my Native American ancestors dealt with." Then Sydney said, "Wait a minute. Me, Emmy, and Sophia all wrote stories about our family members long ago that dealt with prejudice and injustices based on how they looked or where they were from." Callie rolled her eyes and said, "Yeah. Welcome to how my family has always felt. Many people feel uncomfortable when you remind them this so called great country was built on racism, social injustice, and inequality. They'd rather just hear feel good stories about how long ago this country was just like it was on the Andy Griffith Show or Leave it to Beaver... whatever those shows are. I've never actually watched them before."

Then Olive said, "Hey. I've got an idea. My mom has self-published her own books before. How about we get her to help us publish our own book with all of the stories you all or anyone else that didn't win the contest still wants to share. With her help, I bet we could publish about over 200 copies for less than 500 bucks." Then Sydney said, "That's a great idea Olive. We could then pass them around the school, and even send them to local news stations throughout the state." With a smile, Emmy said, "Yeah. If no one is gonna share our stories, then we'll share them ourselves." Then Sophia said, "Okay. Lets spread the word on this. It looks like we've got some awesome work to do."

Two Months Later:

Sydney, Olive, Sophia, and Emmy all walked down their high school hallway carrying four boxes of books. As the four girls walked together Sydney said, "How many copies have you given out?" Emmy then said, "About half my supply now. I told everyone that seemed interested to share their copy with anyone else they know that also seems interested, since I know we're gonna run out soon." Then Sydney said, "Awesome. I'm sure all of those radio and TV stations I sent copies to will be getting theirs by today. We are totally gonna make some serious buzz." Then suddenly an adult female entered the hallway and faced the four girls with an angry face. Sydney suddenly looked concerned as she said, "Dr. Daniels. Would our amazing principal like a copy of our self-published book we have to share?" The principal Dr. Daniels then said, "That's what I wanted to talk to you about. You know this school has a strict policy of only allowing authorized books to be given to students here." Then Sophia said, "But they're our books. It's no different than passing notes in class... not that I pass notes when any teacher is talking, or during a test, or..." Then Olive interrupted Sophia and said, "What she's trying to say is, we're just practicing our freedom of speech." Then Dr. Daniels said, "Well, there are rules for how you distribute printed media in a public school. If you want to formally distribute printed media on a wide scale here, you're going to need to submit your book to the school board for authorization." Then Sydney putting on a brave confidant face said, "Actually Dr. Daniels, I sent a copy of our book to the school board myself just several days ago. I'm sure once they get a copy of it, you'll see they have no issue with what we're doing here."

Sydney had an upset look on her face while yelling, "Rejected!?" Sydney sat in her room holding a paper in her hand next to Olive, Emmy and Sophia. A concerned looking Sophia then said, "What are they talking about?" Then Emmy said, "Did they find any spelling or grammar problems in my part. Because I swear I double checked my part for problems like thirty times." Sydney then said, "The letter here says nothing about that. It says how the book brings up topics that are not suitable for a public school audience, including descriptions of violence and mentions of foul language." Then Sophia said, "Well it's not like I could leave out the foul language in my story. The discrimination many Italian immigrants faced in the early 20th century, along with many other immigrants in that time period was harsh. I was only quoting my great grandmother's diary to make a point." Then Emmy said, "Yeah, I had to explain how rough things got when my grandfather was arrested for simply being part of a peaceful protest." Then Sydney said, "Yeah. And I only included descriptions of lynching, whipping, and hanging to explain how terrible slavery was in the 1800's for most African Americans." Then Emmy said, "Well, have you gotten a response back from those radio or TV stations that you sent copies of our book to?" Then Sydney sat in front of her computer as she said, "No, but I haven't checked my e-mail all day. Lets see..."

Then Max walked by Sydney's room and said, "Oh Sydney. Maybe you shouldn't be surfing the internet right now." Then Sydney said, "But dad, you said I could use it in my room again, the door is open, and my friends are here." Then Max said, "It's not that. You see I was doing some web browsing of my own today and..." Suddenly Sydney's eyes widened and said, "What!? All of the news organizations said they hated my book." Max sighed and said, "I didn't want you to see it but... I guess it was unavoidable." As the other three girls got near Sydney's computer screen, Sophia said, "Well it looks our book made some buzz... but not the kind of buzz we wanted." Then Emmy said, "Oh my gosh. Look at what this one doctor said: A group of Teenage Extremists have attempted in their public school in Oregon to fracture our nation and teach their peers to hate and distrust one another. Well what does that doctor know? He should stick to just doing operations on organs or whatever." Sophia rolled her eyes and said, "I'm sure he's not that kind of doctor Emmy."

Sydney then said, "Yeah. But look at this other article. People are saying how our book is un-American, how we're trying to make people loathe this country and it's history. And look. This one guy whose has been on the radio for fifty years says how we are teaching children to hate themselves and the nation we call home. Then he goes on to say how our views will divide society the way Karl Marx did... what!?" Then Emmy said "What does that guy with the funny mustache, cigar, and big glasses have to do with our book?" Sophia then said, "That's Groucho Marx. You see Karl Marx... you know what it doesn't matter, because even he has nothing to do with our book." Sydney then slumped back in her chair as she said, "I don't get it. We didn't mean to make anyone angry. We just wanted to share about the difficulties our ancestors all went through. We wanted to let people know what this country was once like, so we could appreciate how those before us made it better, how we should be grateful for how much things have improved, and make sure we use history as our guide to make sure those mistakes don't happen again." Max then said, "Sydney. I'm sorry this is happening, but you've done nothing wrong. I'm proud of what all of you girls have done." Sydney then looking more upset now said, "Well I'm not. I tried to do something I thought would be good for the world, but failed. I... I just need some time alone for awhile." Max, Olive, Emmy, and Sophia all stayed still for a moment, but then the four all slowly left the room as Sydney laid down on her bed with a sad face.

Sydney was laying on her bed several hours later. Then she heard a knock on the door. Sydney then said, "I don't want to talk to any of you right now!" Then Olive opened the door and said, "Well maybe you don't want to talk to any of us, but I found someone who might be able to help." Then Olive held up an iPad, and a video image of Sydney's grandmother Maya appeared. Maya waved and said, "Hey Sydney." As Olive sat on the bed next to Sydney, she handed the iPad to her. Sydney looking slightly more upbeat now said, "Grandma Maya. Hey." Maya then said, "I heard you've been having some difficulties today. I saw all the terrible stuff people said about the book you and your friends made." Sydney then said, "Wait. Grandma Maya, you know all about the law. Can't we sue these reporters or the school or something like that?" Maya then said, "Sydney, those reporters are entitled to freedom of speech, just as you are. As for the school... well... you could start a petition and make an appeal to the school board to allow you to share your book on school property. But that could take a lot of time. Honestly you'd probably graduate from high school before their decision could be overturned."

Sydney looked frustrated as she said, "Uggh! What is up with people? All I wanted to do was share stories about how amazing your great-grandmother was. I wanted to share stories about resilience, overcoming obstacles, and how seemingly ordinary people played a part in changing things for the better." Then Maya said, "Well that's the thing though Sydney. A lot of people don't want to believe things ever had to be better. Trust me; as one of the only black people in a nearly all white school growing up, a lot of people just wanted to act like there was never anything wrong with this country. Knowing that flaws have always existed in America, makes some people feel like this country is less special, and thus they are less special." Then Sydney said, "But it's important we all hear about the stories of struggles people in other cultures go through. It's helps us understand those that are different than us. That's one of the reasons why back in 8th grade, we all chose to do our history report about famous people that were of different cultures than ourselves. Because through learning more about those that are different than us, we find better ways to build bridges that unite us."

Maya smiled as she said, "Well first off, it makes me so proud of you Sydney to hear you say those words. But still... you're always going to have extremists that think an attack on any era in American history, is an attack on America as it is today. It makes them angry. And anger is worse than alcohol. It clouds people's judgment, and when people get very angry about certain causes, they just can't think clearly enough to hear or understand the opposing sides' point of view; which many bad leaders out there take advantage of." Then Sydney said, "But human history is full of... humans. We're all flawed. What, are people going to accuse me of attacking the entire human race by bringing up how bad the Holocaust was in World War 2?" Then Olive suddenly spoke up and said, "Actually... they will... because they did with me." Sydney turned to look at Olive as she said, "What?" Then Olive said, "Sydney... my great-grandparents... they were survivors of the Holocaust." Sydney had a look of shock on her face and with wide eyes said, "What? Olive... you've never told me this. Why?" As a few tears appeared in her eyes, Olive said, "Because... it makes people feel uncomfortable. I never met my great-grandparents, but my mom read me papers the two wrote about describing what the Holocaust was like. It was uncomfortable to hear, but I wanted to share their story because I wanted people to know about the struggles Jewish people have dealt with in the last century. So back in sixth grade, I asked our English teacher if we could read my parents' papers they wrote. But she said no because... they were too graphic in detail and uncomfortable to read."

Sydney with a look of shock said, "Olive... that's terrible. Why didn't you tell me?" Olive then looking more sad now said, "Because I didn't want you to feel uncomfortable either. The papers... if you read them, you'd..." Sydney then held Olive's hand and said, "Olive, it's the story of your family. It shouldn't be buried." Then on the iPad screen, Maya said, "I'm sorry you've felt this way too Olive. The truth is many people; whether they be Jewish, Muslim, black, Hispanic, Asian, Indian, or even immigrants straight from Europe at times have all experienced this pressure to not share stories of the hardships they and their ancestors have dealt with. But they have to be shared. We can only grow past the differences that divided us, if we first learn about the actions that divided us in the first place." Sydney then said, "You know what? We need to find another way to share our family's story... all of our family's stories." Then Maya said, "Well... I don't have a magic way you can change everything overnight. But I do have an idea that can may improve some things very quickly."

Sydney stood on a stage in the bike shop, as over fifty people gathered in seats in front of her. Sydney turned her head and saw Olive, Emmy, and Sophia sitting in seats near her. Sydney then waved to the audience and said, "Hi everyone. I'm Sydney Reynolds. Thank you for coming to our book reading tonight, and thanks to my dad for letting us do it here. I'm sure a lot of you have heard some bad things said about the book me and my friends tried to publish and share recently about the histories of our families. We didn't publish it to make people angry or make this amazing country we live in: the United States, look bad. We all love this country and the freedoms the Constitution provides us; especially our freedom of speech. Now some of the stories we're gonna share tonight may make you feel a bit uncomfortable. You may not even like some of these stories; but at least you took the time to listen to our stories first hand, rather than have it filtered through another source. Tonight we're going to hear about my friend Emmy's grandfather who helped Cesar Chavez peacefully fight for better wages and rights for many Spanish speaking immigrant workers. We'll also hear about my friend Sophia's great-grandmother who was rejected from getting a job at several workplaces just because she was an Italian immigrant in the 1920's. And my best friend Olive will also talk about how her great-grandparents survived the Holocaust in World War 2. But first, I'm gonna tell you all about my ancestor: Tyra Carter. A woman forced into slavery at a young age who faced so much adversity, saw our nation at it's ugliest... but still had hope things would get better in the future. Now, lets begin our reading..."

THE END