Ruby Bridges Fought Racism at 6 Years Old | Inspirational Documentary | Goalcast

what happens next may take your breath

away and hopefully get you thinking

the magnitude of that moment did not

escape the nation's view

six-year-old ruby bridges and four

federal marshals

we've been sent by the president of the

united states and we are here to escort

you to school today

the governor of the state decided that i

will not

force my people to integrate against

their will

going through this kind of living hell

what would you expect

crowds of protesters lined to the

streets

teachers at the school refused to

instruct her governor

george wallace who blocked by literally

standing in the door

200 people waiting at 8 30 in the

morning to tell her they were going to

kill her

then they had a machine gun beside their

guns they threatened to poison ruby

president of the united states and

troops you are one of my heroes

i'm here because of you the governor

called the national guard all because of

just one little girl

he pulled his gun to shoot things were

gonna get really worse

i can't believe this kind of stuff

happens i would like to know what's

happening to her

until now she has never told the full

story of what happened to her

when they knocked on the door my parents

opened the door and i remember standing

there and seeing these

four very tall white men

i remember them saying that we're

federal marshals

we've been sent by the president of the

united states

and we are here to escort you and your

daughter to school today

i found myself in the car driving

this very short drive to this new school

and the minute we turned the corner

i saw what i thought was mighty girl

there were so many people standing out

in the middle of the street

and they were screaming and shouting and

throwing things

i draw the line in the dust and i say

segregation

now segregation tomorrow and segregation

forever

the car door opened and those federal

marshals they grabbed my hand

and i remember them saying ruby walk

straight ahead and don't look back

one of the city policemen he pulled his

gun to shoot

and everybody say they knew private to

kill me and says if they killed the

mother

the child wouldn't have went 200 people

waiting at 8 30 in the morning to tell

her they were going to kill

200 people in the afternoon telling you

they're going to kill her

the crowd would come and they would

bring a small

baby's coffin and they put this

black doll inside of the coffin and they

would march around

the school and i would have to pass it

to get inside of the building

and i used to have nightmares about the

coffin this is a people's movement

it doesn't make any difference whether

the major politicians are going to

support you or not

if they don't support us in this

movement to take

back our government and give it to us

and let us run our own institutions

those who stand in the way are liable to

get run over

when i got inside of the building i

remember it being very

quiet i received a call from the

superintendent's office

and asking me if i would like to take a

first grade position

that morning when i arrived of course

the anger

and the hostility was palpable i was

told

that if i went downstairs i would meet

my student

so i walked down to a cavernous basement

area of the school

those doors instantly opened and amidst

this

towering presence of federal marshals

stood the most beautiful little girl

one could ever dream of seeing looking

so

delicate so unaware of the mantle for

change she wore that day

and as i went over toward her to

introduce myself

she came forward and i think she felt

she was pretty special and she was

and she looked that way she beautiful

pink dress party dress

and as i walked over to meet her her

bowed head sort of raised gently

and a little smile came across her face

and then those beautiful big brown eyes

that she still has rose to nepal

and you know it was a case of love at

first sight

how could you not fall in love with a

child like that in a moment like that

and so leaving behind a cameo of the

past

ruby and i held our hands left them

walked together upstairs to our first

grade classroom

and began our solitary adventure i

remember looking at her

and thinking she's white

i've never seen a white teacher before

she looked exactly like the people

outside

she wasn't by the next day the crowds

had doubled

they kept pointing at me and shouting

kept saying we're gonna poison her we're

gonna hang her

i remember hearing my mom said that she

would send me the school

and that every day she would sit and

pray

all day to three o'clock until i walked

back through the door

and the federal marshals they met with

my parents and they said you should

prepare her lunch and she should eat it

at her desk

they actually thought that i was afraid

of being poisoned and i remember them

coming to me

and saying why were you not eating

and why did you lie and i said

because i want to eat lunch in the

cafeteria with the other kids

the minute we got to the cafeteria and

they pushed open the doors

nothing but empty tables there were no

kids

and i remember being so disappointed

about that

i just knew they were in the cafeteria

i would go into this coat closet to hang

up my coat and every time i went into

the closet

i would hear kids voices

and i would mention it to my teacher and

she wouldn't say anything

and there were days when i would go back

into the closet and i would just stand

there

just to see if i really heard them and i

did

you see there were white parents who

tried to send their kids to school with

me

those white parents had to cross the

same picket line that i did

and they were never protected by federal

marshals as they crossed the picket line

the principal would take the kids and

she would hide them

so they would never see me and i would

never see them

i went up to the principal and i said

why are they not with ruby

and she said well that teacher won't

teach her

and i said well i will teach them and so

shortly thereafter they would come and

join us for the afternoon

and i do remember that beginning where

those three or four little kids just

gingerly walked

into that room because that was the

first time they had ever been

in a classroom with a black child i went

in to sit down

to play with them but that is the day

because a little boy looked at me and he

said i can't play with you

my mom said not to play with you because

you're

and the minute he said that i remember

to this very day

it felt as if this weight lifted off my

shoulders

all of a sudden by him saying that i

knew

why there were no kids there

and the truth is even though he hurt my

feelings

i was never angry with him

because in my mind i thought he was

explaining to me

why he couldn't play with me he said

my mom said not to play with you

and i thought to myself if my mom

had said ruby don't play with him

he's asian don't play with him

he's indian he's hispanic he's white

if my mom had said not to play with him

i would not have played with him

so i wasn't angry with him i understood

one cannot underestimate the courage of

ruby

and the power a child has i believe it

was in the best interest of white and

black

uh to be in a segregated school system

but i was wrong

our children need to know that white

folks

black folks they stood together

thank god for the teacher that was there

she was my best friend

and she taught me the lesson that dr

king tried to teach

each and every one of us and that is we

should never judge a person by the color

of their skin

[Applause]

i always say that she showed me her

heart we had a grand time together i

think side by side than just the two of

us

i believe that if we are going to get

past our racial differences

it's going to come from our kids but we

as adults have to allow them

opportunities to come together i think

it's important for kids to dream

and be able to believe that they can

follow those dreams

i don't think i would be here today if i

wasn't dreaming