The Little Rock 9

**I didn't feel a song was appropriate for this post so here is the story that this post refers to, it is a long story so prepare but it will be worth your time, I promise.**
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/the_bonus/04/05/little.rock0409/index.html

Sometimes the ignorance of the human race scares the hell out of me. This ignorance was not recently seen or witnessed by myself, but read about in Sports Illustrated. I don't read much more than what's in my textbooks or about sports, so I feel lucky when I have completed a story such as this with so much meaning.

Blindsided by History by Gary Smith, was about Little Rock Central High School, the years of segregation from 1957-1959, and the transformation the school has endured in the last 50 years. This story was told from the vantage point of the schools football team, who in 1957 was the best team in the country and had a history of being so. When the orders from the supreme court came down that the school must allow black students to enroll, the town's people were outraged. It took tanks, helicopters and fully armed military personal escorts to get these kids to classes. The schools football team was dismembered as white players went to other schools, many of the kids never graduated white or black because the school closed its doors for a year in 1958.

In September at the 50th "anniversary" of that date, the old timers will be in attendance, but they won't be there to gloat about how they have a great job, or about that great season they had as seniors. No, they will be there to tell the story that needs to be told of a time that needs not to be forgotten. These now 65 year old men, have taken a tragic turn mainly due to their unfortunate timing on this Earth. Many of them never received a high school diploma, even the ones from affluent white families, the article tells of a man who worked in a cardboard box factory for the last 37 years (and that pretty much tells the story for most of the players). When quoted in the article the 65 year old men repeatedly showed remorse for the actions they took (or didn't take) in that era. "I was a kid just trying to fit in. If I saw her [Elizabeth Eckford one of the black students] now, I'd say I'm sorry I didn't hug you and hold your hand. If I could do it over, I'd be a friend."

The thing that impacted me from this article is how their ignorance and acceptance of the mistreatment of other human beings ended up being the essence and simultaneously the shame of their existence. Most of these men didn't feel any ill feelings toward their new black peers, it was the community and their parents and the cultural environment that told them what to think about the situation. One man even said that he now makes sure to say hello and make small talk when he sees a black man or woman, and that he makes sure to buy from the black salesman. Its over the top he knows, but he wants to make sure that his child doesn't feel the eternal grief that he now feels for standing by the wayside and letting horrible things happen.

So what can we learn from Sports Illustrated this week? I'll tell you. We can learn that throughout time whether it be: a person of a different color, a person of a different gender, a person of a different religion...WE ARE ALL THE SAME. It seems so simple doesn't it. If I were born 60 years ago, a white male in the south I would hate to admit it but I would have probably been a racist. I can only hope in my heart that I would have the courage to stand up against these injustices, but odds have it that I wouldn't and neither would you. So now that we have shown that women are equals and that minorities are equals let us not turn to another group of people and persecute them for what we feel are inferior qualities. Let us please learn from our mistakes (this time) and treat all with the respect that the men of the 1957 Little Rock Central High School football team wish they could have treated those 9 black students that year.