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Thoughts on Ruby Bridges

It's Super Bowl weekend, and the hosts of 96.7 The Ticket are in Atlanta covering it. While there, they visited the Civil Rights Museum, and several of them shared their expirience over the radio the next day. One of the exhibits they saw was the Norman Rockwell Painting: "The Problem We All Live With "
I'll admit, I was not very familiar with the story of Ruby Bridges. Listening to her story was one of the most heartbreaking things ever. In 1960, at 6 years old, she was the first black child to be intergrated into an all white school.
Prostestors lined the streets, yelling obscenities as she bravely walked to school...protected by 4 U.S. Marshalls. When she got to school, all the parents pulled their children out. All the teachers...except for one...refused to teach.
Eventually, kids started returning...but not to Ruby's class. That teacher taught only Ruby for the entire school year, as if she was teaching to a full classroom.
My eyes filled with tears as I imagined what she went through. I also thought of my own 6 year old being in that same situation. I can't even imagine. What kind of evil would cause a grown adult to act so hateful towards a little innocent child? It's mind blowing.
It's hard for me to grasp that this wasn't that long ago! My dad is Ruby's age! That means many of the people that were so cruel to black families trying to integrate into white communities are still alive today. I'm sure many have softened their hearts, but you and I know that there's plenty of "old-school" folks out there that have not.
It's so important that we stay educated on the dark parts of our history. It's not fun. It's embarrassing. It's depressing. But it happened.
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." - George Santayana

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