Tribute to the Little Rock Nine
Picture taken from Marquette University.edu.
http://www.marquette.edu/littlerocknine/
Little Rock Nine
Little Rock Nine
When I think of black history,
You come to mind.
In turbulent times
You stood strong
Bravely, fighting to right
our nation's wrong.
You did what you had to do.
Nothing could stop you.
Your courage, your strength,
Your determination
Changed a nation
You climbed high the mountain of
Segregation
So that people of every station
could have a right to a decent education.
Through the name calling and spitting,
You choose to hang tough.
You could have said enough,
But you endured for us.
You suffered humiliation,
anger and wrath,
Every day you went to class.
When threatened with attack
You didn't turn back.
You were so young,
But you stood,
Bravely as you could
How can we not be proud?
Through the angry, screaming crowd,
You pressed.
With heads held high,
You walked on by,
You sailed the winds of adversity,
Crossed the angry sea
For you and me.
You endured
Resting secure
That your labors would not be in vain.
You bore the anger, you bore the pain.
Now it is up to us to walk through the doors
You opened wide
With the same determination and pride.
You blasted the doors of segregation,
Paved a way to the road of education,
Gave us an opportunity to matriculate
on an equal playing field
That our destiny could no longer be sealed
by the chains of inequality.
You crossed the line
So that victory would be mine.
When I think of black history
Little Rock Nine,
You will always come to mind.
Copyright 2014, Patricia Newman-Harris
Living the Dream
Open letter to our children
I'm writing this letter to you in the hopes that you will
not only listen,, you will hear. Would that I could wake those who slumber and sleep on the bed of
complacency and apathy. Would that I
could make you see that you don't have to be content with the ordinary. I know you get tired of hearing the same old
same, but I want you to understand that you can be whatever you want to
be. You are not confined by person or
place, color or race. Oh, that you would
finally hear what the universe is so loudly speaking. These are messages that some don't want you
to hear, but if you listen, you can hear them loud and clear. I know you can do anything, but you have to believe you can. Failure is not a fact, nor is it is an option
to be considered. You have the same
courage, determination, and power as the Little Rock Nine. You don't have the obstacles they had to
endure. You just get up, put on your
clothes and go to school. There is no
one physically standing outside to block your way. Those children endured the worse so that you
would have the opportunity to equal education.
Granted, all schools are still not equal, but you have to do the best
you can with what you are given. You
can't blame your parents, the school, or the teacher. Inevitably, you are responsible for
you. If you feel you are not learning in
class, use the internet. You use it for anything else you want to
know. It is a powerful tool of education
that is available to almost anyone.
In closing, I want you to know You have been handed a great legacy. The doors of opportunity have been opened wide. It hurts to see you throwing it away
without thought or consideration of our history. Your freedom is a gift that was bought with the blood, sweat
and tears of our ancestors. It is not
yours to throw away. You have to seize
every opportunity, throwing nothing away.
Nothing!
In case you haven't noticed, people are quickly gobbling up
the crumbs that fall from our table.
They are hungry for the opportunities you so callously throw away. Here, we sit in the land of plenty willingly starving from a lack of knowledge, refusing to go to college, when our
forefathers burned for the chance to learn.
I hope you will accept and consider what I have said
seriously. Your future is in your
hands. Do all you can to stand. When you feel like you can't stand anymore,
stand. I know you can. Remember, the race is not given to the swift
or to the strong, but to the one who is willing to endure to the end. I want to see you win. That is my sole desire.
