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President and those powerful men in his cabinet must have agreed that the integration was as dangerous as a hostile enemy in war.
“Mob rule cannot be allowed to override the decision of the courts.”
Then she shouted through the door again: “State your business, gentlemen, or I’ll be forced to do mine.”
Grandma had always said that well-kept shoes were the mark of a disciplined individual.
Yes, this is the United States, I thought to myself. There is a reason that I salute the flag.
“…with liberty and justice for all”
101st had earned its reputation for bravery during World War II by stopping the German attack at the Battle of the Bulge.
To block any thoughts of the troops leaving, I began to sing.
a group of boys bumped straight into me. One of them kicked me in the shins so hard I fell to the floor. A second kick was delivered to my stomach.
More white students gathered around and taunted me, applauding and cheering: “The nigger’s down.”
Faubus’s speech was inflammatory.
A Confederate flag was attached to it. I had seen other students carrying those flags in school and letting out the rebel yell.
Nothing had frightened me more than suddenly being folded into the flow of that crowd of white students as they moved toward the auditorium.
RIP to Kendrick Johnson
“We’re gonna make your life hell, nigger. You’all are gonna go screaming out of here, taking those nigger-loving soldiers with you.”
I felt so empty inside, like somebody had scooped out the warm sweet part of my spirit that made me smile and feel grateful to be alive.
The Mothers’ League was asking that the 101st be removed from inside the school or at least cut to a bare minimum.
Never let your enemy know what you are feeling.
Black Twitter
they descended on us like locusts. “Get the coons! Get the coons!”
“Dead niggers don’t go to school,” someone said, hitting me hard in the stomach.
At the same time she and other NAACP officials across the state were under increased pressure from State Attorney General Bruce Bennett
“But what if they throw things?” “In the house of the Lord? Surely not. These white folks aren’t heathens. While you speak, they will come to understand you are all worshipping the same Lord.”
Stockholm syndrome
they were taking away as many jobs from my people as they could and cutting credit at the local stores.
For Arkansas Guardsmen to do what the federal government ordered would be unfair because they didn’t enlist to enforce integration but to defend their country in a time of need.”
Bigots didn’t realize they fell under the domestic enemies category
“President Eisenhower’s had a slight stroke,”
City officials continued to harass the NAACP leaders just as the students were harassing us at school.
“Nigger,” I would whisper to remind myself. That’s all I am to them. They don’t see me as a real person.
“You can never in this lifetime count on another human being to keep you from being lonely.
“Anger brings defeat,”
the White Citizens Council would pay reward money to the person who could incite us to misbehave and get ourselves expelled. It was apparent that many students were going for that reward.
At the beginning, I had faithfully answered those letters each weekend. They came from France, Germany, England, Africa, and Australia, from people all around the world, mostly congratulating me for going to Central High.
She’s colored—like you.”
Why BIPOC is unacceptable
“The only thing a white man ever wants with one of our women is personal favors.”
“Sitting and wishing never made man great.
I realized that sometimes we were excluded not as an act of hostility but because they had forgotten about us since we weren’t visible in their lives anymore.
“Anymore”? They never visualize a human
closed all of Little Rock’s high schools. So we began the school year waiting for the law of the land to blast Mr. Faubus out of his stubborn trench.
Faubus to set up an explosive situation, while maintaining a veneer of innocence. He could ignite and fuel segregationists’ anger without being caught holding the matches.
History repeats
It’s not the racial difference, it’s the philosophical difference that is most important.”
Stockholm syndrome
