A true warrior does not give up

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“I am consoled by the words my grandmother spoke, “Even when the battle is long, and the path is steep, a true warrior does not give up. If each one of us does not step forward to claim our rights, we are doomed to an eternal wait in hopes those who would usurp them would become benevolent.”
        — India Peyton, Grandmother of Little Rock Nine member Melba Patillo Beals

Warriors Don’t Cry by Melba Patillo Beals should be required reading for every American. Thanks to the diaries Beals kept during the tumultuous period President Eisenhower called up the elite 101st Airborne Division to enforce integration of Little Rock Arkansas Central High School by her and 8 other Black students (each outnumbered 200 to one), readers have the opportunity to walk in her shoes during that moment in time. Her narrative is both staggering and horrifying in terms of the scope of the relentless terrorism each experienced during this period, along with their families and community. 

The earlier part of the book details what life was like as a child growing up in segregated Arkansas. Melba was an intelligent child, and it is heartbreaking to see her energized enthusiasm for life, a soul that wanted to embrace and experience all of life like the rest of the people in her town, learn that swimming pools in beautiful parks were off limits, even to walk closely by. During this time restaurants and venues enjoyed by whites were also taboo, being called “Miss” and attended to respectfully by waiters was a rare experience, and rest rooms were labeled “Colored.” Institutions were separate and anything but equal, as Central High School cost over a million dollars to build, while the Black high school cost $400,000. 

As a youngster she loved seeing the park carousel, and had a favorite horse on it. What happens when she wanders independently away from her family’s segregated park picnic site to approach the carousel, coins clutched tightly in her fist, excitedly anticipating that first ride on her favorite horse, is an experience no child should ever have. States rights aside, it puts into perspective the necessity of federal intervention when human rights are at stake. I don’t know how Beals survived her first day after the integration orders were enforced, much less the months following; her description is riveting and gut wrenching. 

For those who didn’t live through Thurgood Marshall’s drive for states’ compliance with integration, Melba details what she and other “Little Rock Nine” students, their families, and community endured during the 1957-58 school year. Only 15 years old at the start of her 1957 junior year at Central High School, we discover there is no history lesson as easily learned as that told by someone who lived it. Life and safety were at stake while the Arkansas governor drew a proverbial line in the sand with no intention of surrender. 

Little Rock evolved into a racial, political, and judicial war zone converging around these 9 high school students, while the world watched. “I tried to move among the angry voices, blinking, struggling to accustom my eyes to the very dim light, the unfamiliar surroundings reminded me of the inside of a museum, marble floors and stone walls, and long winding hallways that seemed to go on forever. It was a huge cavernous building, the largest one I’d ever been in. Breathless I made my legs carry me quickly past angry white faces, dodging fists that struck out at me.” Melba’s account leaves an indelible impression of the courage it took for these nine high school students to walk into their school, running a gauntlet of hate filled angry mobs of whites who were furious the law of the land should apply to them. 

Beals is indeed a true warrior that no amount of tears could diminish. Relying upon the wisdom and example of family members, her faith, and her fierce spirit forged in the crucible of desegregation, she has the graciousness to suggest, “The task that remains is to cope with our interdependence, to see ourselves reflected in every other human being, and to respect and honor our differences.” 

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