In the last section of Warriors Don't Cry by Melba Pattillo Beals, the students have finally found ways to combat the atrocities of their white schoolmates. One of the strategies was given to Melba by her grandmother when she told her, "Take, for example, this egg in your hair. Suppose you'd have told the boys who did this, 'Thank you,' with a smile. Then you've changed the rules of the game. What they want is for you to be unhappy" (242). This idea gives Melba a hope that she can fight in a way that would not cause her to be punished by the school, but still effectively shake the racist student body. Melba tries out this tactic and recounts her experience in her diary when she writes, "I got hit across the back with a tennis racquet. I managed to smile and say, 'Thank you.' Andy said, 'What did you say, nigger?' I repeated, 'Thank you very much.' I spit up blood in the rest room" (246). Melba finishes the thought in her diary with, "I think the warrior only exists in me now. Melba went away to hide. She was too frightened to stay here" (246). Melba's complete transformation into a machine of non-emotion and an inhuman like sense of calm to her assaults show how she has been hardened by the segregation experience and learned to cope with her harsh environment.
Towards the end of the book the students are almost to the point of graduation although not all make it that far. When Melba reads an article in the newspaper that talks about a news reporter who received two Pulitzer Prizes simply for documenting the CHS integration, Melba wondered,"when we would get big prizes for what we were doing. After all, this guy was just observing our troubles from afar and writing about them. Not once did I see him spend a day in hell with us" (291). This quote shows Melba's frustration with the public's lack of acknowledgment to the heroics of the Little Rock Nine, but also foreshadows the great awards that they would receive in their future as adults, far removed from the halls of Central High. In her adult years, Melba reflects on the decisions of the NAACP that caused her to integrate Central High. She writes, "I wondered how in their minds they justified such an act. As an adult, I believe had it been me driving, I would have kept going rather than allow my children to face that rampaging mob. And yet had we students not gone to school that day, perhaps the integration of Central, and a whole string of other Southern schools that eventually followed, would never have taken place" (309). Here Melba can see the importance of the struggles she went to and the effect that they have had. Trying to imagine our society without the integration that she and the other 9 instigated, it is a sad and pitiful picture. Her acts have brought a greater amount of acceptance into our school systems, workforce, and every day life. It is an understatement to say that Melba Pattillo Beals was a heroine for our country.
Citation:
Beals, Melba Pattillo. Warriors Don't Cry. New York: Washington Square Press, 1994.
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5 comments:
I think it is amazing to read about how courageous Melba had to be in response to the racist bullying at her high school. However, I think it's kind of disappointing that she had to turn almost "inhuman" to do this--I don't think anyone should have to be that way to survive at school. It must have taken a lot of the fun out of her life to have to face such a challenge every day.
It really does take one with courage to cope with such an environment as this. To go into an area where one does not qualify as human because of their skin color... Without this courage, integration elsewhere might have not occurred, so by taking extra beatings in school, it probably helped open up other schools for integration.
It must be frustrating to have to live through such hell and never feel like you are being recognized for it. And then to see someone writing about you and getting an award must be even worse. I am glad though that - even if a bit delayed - The little rock 9 did receive recognition for their contribution to society.
It is minorly hard to imagine what this environment was like, just because we live in the north and are evolved from the civil rights movement. As for the students who treated the little rock nine badly, I actually feel sorry for them. Their attitude was most likely brought on by the reasonless hatred that their parents had, and their grandparents before that, etc. etc. The environment that a child grows up in greatly affects their ethics, which is why you cant judge some racists so harshly. Even though what they are doing is horrendous, it might not be completely their fault.
I agree with campbell here, you can't judge people TO harshly. Because most people are results of their nuturing and their enviroment. But i also feel terrible for the girl who had to endure such a thing at school. However if she hadn't made it who would have? So at the same time i feel great respect and admire the girl for going to school and changing the enviroment in that area.
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