Things I hope to always remember about what Ruby Bridges shared tonight.
- When she was six years old after learning that she passed the test (to be integrated into an all white school) everyone was so excited that she honestly thought she was going straight from first grade to college.
- When she walked into the white school, that was supposed to be separate but equal, she saw her reflection in the floor it was so clean and she thought; this must be college, because it was so different from her black school.
- Evil comes in all races and religions, do not decide if you can trust a person based on what they look like. Give yourself the time to get to know them before deciding if you can trust them.
- When she was driven to school by the US Marshals her neighbors “walked” her to school by following the car every day. They were a community and it takes a community to raise a child.
The one thing I hope my children forget about the night, but I worry that they never will.
- I brought the wrong camera lens and therefore was not able to get a family photo with Ruby Bridges after she signed her books for us, even though we tried.
- We stood back in line with their first grade teachers (their Mrs. Henrys) at 9:30 pm so I could take a photo of them with Ruby Bridges….and their teachers….and a retired first grade teacher I did not know. And they got home and went to bed at 10:00 at night.
In hindsight I should have been less selfish and just tried to take the photo of the kids with Ruby Bridges myself rather than handing my camera off to someone so that I, too, and my husband could be in the photo. At 10:15 pm I am afraid that the last 30 minutes of our night overshadowed her message; which is what we really went there for, not a photo, that was just a bonus. I’m hoping that in the morning my stomach doesn’t still feel like it’s in my throat.
