The Worst of Humankind--Even Worse Than Their Driving

The Most Beautiful High School in the Country
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Lots less driving today (though Arkansas drivers who weave are even more dangerous than Tennessee drivers who weave).  Went to Little Rock, AK to visit the Little Rock Central High School National Memorial Site.  This is the site commemorating the 1957 forced integration of Little Rock schools by the "Little Rock Nine."  It's a pretty amazing story--even trying to account for the human capacity for fear and hatred of all that is feared.  In this case, preparation for integration appeared to be proceeding smoothly, until the night before school started, when the Governor (?!), a charmer named Orval Faubus, got on television and proclaimed that all kinds of trouble would naturally arise the next day so he was sending the National Guard to keep the peace.  By which, it turns out, he meant not that he would protect the black high school kids who were lawfully entering school, but that he would use the Guard to block their entering the building.  This went on for a time, with all the requisite rock throwing, calling for lynchings, and beating up of reporters, until Eisenhower sent the 101st Airborne to settle the matter.

The Visitor's Center. The Mobil sign is at the original Visitor's center--a gas station that became the press headquarters during the crisis.
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My favorite bit:  unlike the local police, who snuck the kids into the school one day through a side door and then out again through the basement and hid them in police cars under blankets, the 101st marched them up the front walk, up the massive staircase, and through the front doors.  A veritable statement.  Of course, when there are 300 of your closest friends standing with bayonets drawn, this makes the magnificent gesture a lot easier to pull off....

"Desegregation isn't Christian!"

The Mobil Station
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Most astonishing bit (though in retrospect, perhaps one ought not to be astonished, especially when one is as cynical as I):  Faubus' next ploy was to close the schools altogether for the next year.  He got a bill passed giving him power to close any school that was being forcibly integrated, and then he closed every high school in Little Rock for the 1958-1959 school year.  Get that:  we'd rather have no schools then go to school with THOSE PEOPLE.  Ye gods.  Fortunately, that was too far for many people, and a huge campaign rose up to oust the segregationist school board, seat a new one, and re-open the schools.  The rest is history.

The exhibit in the visitor's center is quite fascinating; Lots of recordings of interviews with people who were there, including several of the original nine students.  One sampling, to remind us that it wasn't only in Arkansas:  photo of protesters in Maryland: "We like you but we don't want you in our school."  "Desegregation isn't Christian!"  (Go figure..I would LOVE to hear the logic behind that one!) and (held by a 12-year-old):  "Put me down as no nigger lover."  One would like to think we have progressed, until one listens to the hate speech during the election, the anti-gay marriage sentiment, and the screaming about a "Muslim symbol" at the Flight 93 memorial in Pennsylvania.  We make haste slowly at best.  I teach to try to counteract this crap, but it's slow going at a few students at a time.

Website here: http://www.lrcentralhigh.org/ with great photos.

In other news...LOTS of birds today--Red Tail Hawks were out in force (very cold weather--never got above freezing), Tim saw a Harris Hawk, we saw hundreds (maybe thousands) of what we think were Canada Geese flying in formation.  Too high up to be certain of species, but they were in the giant V's.  And in one stretch along the highway, we passed a whole row of denuded trees with hundreds of blackbirds (maybe Starlings) decorating the branches like Christmas ornaments.  Move over Alfred Hitchcock.

Tomorrow, Ft. Smith via Buffalo River (we've been there, but it was before we go tthe NPS passport, and we are in pursuit of the stamp!).

PS:  Little Rock Central is billed as "the Most Beautiful High School in America," and they can't be far wrong.  They have about 300 more students than we do, but they must have 5x the floor space.  I am extremely envious!