Simada and Ruby

A few weeks ago Stephanie, and I attended Simada with my mother. Simada is basically a club of women that get together and learn about things. It was been around for years, and my mom and some of her friends started a group here in Gilbert about 25 years ago. Anyway this year they are learning about the supreme court and how their ruling change and effect or lives. The night I attended they spoke about Brown vs. the board of education which happened in 1954. Years later a brave little girl named Ruby Bridges was the first Black to attend William Franz Elementary School in New Orleans. The teacher passed out this picture of Ruby walking to school on her first day.

Ruby's story:

On Ruby's first day of school Federal marshals had to be ordered in by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to escort Ruby into the school building. The New Orleans police as well as the Louisiana police refused their services. Large crowds of angry white people gathered every day outside the school grounds to hurl their epitaphs and threats of physical violence toward Ruby. The marshals carried guns just in case and often threatened arrests to keep the marching crowds back. Ruby would always hurry through them all without saying a word.
Once inside, she took her seat at her desk among a room full of other desks all vacant. None of the white parents would send their children to the school. They all participated in the protest, whether yelling and carrying signs or in the chilly, silent protest of empty desks. No one to learn with. No one to eat with. No one to play with. No one.
However, Ruby had a teacher required by law, Mrs. Henry. She was always dumbfounded by Ruby's politeness and the effectual smile on her face. Wondering how Ruby could keep on going with such a relaxed and hopeful spirit, the teacher speculated when Ruby would wear down or even quit coming altogether. But Ruby said she was doing fine. And so Ruby learned how to read and how to write in an empty classroom in an empty building.
Then one morning, Mrs. Henry noticed Ruby walking toward the school as usual but then she stopped, turned toward the angry, howling crowd and seemed to even be trying to speak to them. The crowd seemed ready to pounce on her while the marshals tried in vain to keep Ruby moving. Finally, she stopped talking and walked into the school.
Mrs. Henry immediately asked Ruby what happened; why did she try and talk to such a belligerent crowd. Ruby irritatingly responded that she didn't stop to talk with them.
"Ruby, I saw you talking," Mrs. Henry pressed. "I saw your lips moving."
"I wasn't talking," said Ruby. "I was praying...I was praying for them."
Evidently, Ruby had stopped every morning a few blocks away from the school to pray for the people who hated her. But on this morning she had forgotten until she was already in the middle of the malevolent mob.
After school that day, Ruby bolted through the crowd as usual and headed for home with her two companion federal marshals. After a few blocks and with the crowds behind her, she paused as she usually did to say the prayer that she had repeated not once but twice a day -- before and after school:

Please God, try to forgive these people.

Because even if they say those bad things,

They don't know what they're doing.

So You could forgive them,

Just like You did those folks a long time ago

When they said terrible things about You.

Later on that year, two white boys joined with Ruby at the school. As expected, the mob became very upset upon first seeing them. However, those two boys were soon followed by other children. The following school year the mobs gave up their struggle to scare off Ruby or to defeat the judge's order. Ruby finished Franz Elementary and went on to graduate from high school.

Ever since this night at Simada I have thought about Ruby Pretty much everyday. I am not fully sure why, Ruby's story touched me so much. However I feel so strongly that I need to remember Ruby and her brave touching story.