Outside Reading 2: Warriors Don't Cry

I have chosen to switch my outside reading book from John Adams to Warriors Don't Cry by Melba Pattillo Beals. This is a compelling memoir about the authors struggle to integrate Little Rock Arkansas' Central High School. One of the major themes in this book is the persecution and abuse of black Americans in Little Rock and other places. This abuse instilled a fear into the hearts of many African Americans who even after successful integration felt unsafe in the town. According to one of the Little Rock Nine who integrated Central High, returning to Little Rock was "Frightening... most uf us have rarely come back to Arkansas as adults... I have only found the strength to visit five times in thirty years because of the uneasy feeling the city gives me" (xxi). This sentiment seems to be shared by many of the people who face or have faced persecution from the white people all around them. Another example of this poor treatment of black people is evident in the circumstances surrounding Melba Pattillo Beals' birth. She had a terrible illness as a baby and was about to die, until her mother overheard the treatment that her daughter was supposed to have recieved in order to survive. After asking the nurse about this treatment, the white woman replied "yes, come to think of it, the doctor had said something about Epsom salts. But we don't coddle nigggers" (5). This woman's hatred towards black people clouded her judgement so much that she would not even care for an innocent baby who was about to die.

This abuse lead to a desire to reform their society, launching Melba Pattillo into an even more dangerous and risky world. She was encouraged by the words of her grandmother to fight for her rights and change what is wrong in the world. "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 will become benevolent" (3). Pattillo lived by this mantra and used it as encouragement for the difficult times she would face in her struggle to change the status quo of race relations. Whether she completely understood her fight at the time, Melba Pattillo pushed the race boundary at an early age. As a young girl she decided to enter the "white ladies'" restroom instead of walking all the way to the "colored" restroom, causing havoc to break out in the store she was in. The police got involved and called, "I'm demanding you'all get out here right now. I'm with the Little Rock police. Don't make us come in after you" (19). Her early experience in racial discrimination and the extreme lengths that people will take it prepared her for her future as a radical challenger of her society, and provides a picture of the continuous struggles that she faced.

Citation:
Beals, Melba Pattillo. Warriors Don't Cry. New York: Washington Square Press, 1994.