Warriors Don't Cry, dammit

We're reading the book "Warriors Don't Cry" in my ENG 075 class. It's a memoir written by one of the Little Rock Nine students who were the first to integrate all-white Central High in Little Rock Arkansas in 1957.

The bravery of those teenagers is amazing to me. They had to face down prejudice from fellow students, from the media, from community adults, from state government, and from the Arkansas National Guard, for crying out loud! And they were all 14-17 years old at the time. I can't imagine being that brave and selfless at that young an age. But here they were, getting abused multiple times a day, in order to pave the way for integrated schools for all.

Damn people and their ignorant attitudes. Racism is such an ugly, ridiculous thing. Watching the little intro film I show before beginning to teach this book, I was again reminded about how ignorance can breed violence, how hatred can be passed on through the generations so easily, how words can leave scars.

Are things really so different today? Yes, we have racially integrated schools, but segregation still exists...race AND class-based segregation, predicated in large part on the way we fund our school systems. The use of the property tax to fund schools is ridiculous. Why should a fair, quality education be an accident of birth? Poor neighborhoods get schools that are inferior and violent, while schools in rich neighborhoods get the best of everything. Come on now...here in the greatest country on earth, we should be able to do better than that.

Warriors don't cry? Well, maybe they don't. But we should all cry for the fine minds that are perhaps being lost because we accept this unfairness as part of life in America. We should all cry that every child doesn't get to stand at the same place on life's starting line. We should cry that the message we send poor and minority children is that somehow, they aren't worth our time, effort, and money. I'm reminded of that old Bruce Hornsby song, "The Way It Is."


They say hey little boy you can't go
Where the others go
'Cause you don't look like they do
Said hey old man how can you stand
To think that way
Did you really think about it
Before you made the rules

He said, Son
That's just the way it is
Some things will never change
That's just the way it is
But don't you believe them

I don't believe it. I don't believe that this is the way things have to be. I believe in the goodness of America's dream...that we can make things equal for everyone without shortchanging anyone. Since when is the American dream a zero-sum game? Some would say that in order for us to have a free-market economy, there have to be winners AND losers. I say...no dice. We're the wealthiest country in the world (although after this week's Wall Street fiasco, that might be up for debate). We should take care of ALL of our children and give them every advantage that our great nation has to offer. Dammit, this makes me mad. Children getting the short end of the stick because of color or class...or gender... just pisses me off. How do we all sleep at night, knowing that this is what goes on?

Bruce Hornsby...

Well they passed a law in '64
To give those who ain't got a little more
But it only goes so far
Because the law won't change another's mind
When all it sees at the hiring time
Is the line on the color bar

That's just the way it is
Some things will never change
That's just the way it is
But don't you believe them

No. Hell no. Come on, we can do so much better.

Afternoon music:
"The Way It Is"--Bruce Hornsby and the Range