Skip rutherford of the clinton center, to the sixth Anniversary Committee and most of all the little rock nine and their families. We welcome you to this 60th Educational Forum for the city of little rock and the state of arkansas. We thank you for being here and we hope that something is said or done that would give you a better understanding when you leave here today. And let me digress for a minute and say that the naacp, the organization that worked and spearheaded the little rock nine. Terrible time in our history. I remind you, this was way before the march on washington. This was way before the 1964 civil rights act. This was way before the 1965 Voting Rights act. These young people wanted to do get an education, thats all they were aspiring to do. But our system at that time said you will not be able to go to school based upon a decision by the United StatesSupreme Court. However Thurgood Marshall, who went on to be a Supreme Court justice. Weiland grant senior, one of the lawyers of the naacp, along with the parrots of tents of the lit nine went through one of the most Turbulent Times in america. Courts said you would go to school but this state said you will not go to Little Rock Central High School. Young people set out to get an education. All they wanted to get education. Denied that opportunity. And paid a tremendous debt that all of us in this room is enjoying today. That we owe them a great, great gratitude for their contribution, what they went through to make it possible for us to be in this room today. We need to give them applause. Now i wont prolong the time. I have the task of introducing our speaker. Our speaker is no stranger his dad was one of the lawyers along with Thurgood Marshall who worked with the naacp to make it possible. Our speaker is the sitting judge for the state of arkansas, the city of little rock, one of three juvenile judges that daytoday took on the task of being a surrogate for young people who has lost their way and has sit in the courtroom and offer up many, Many Solutions to the problem that the young people are facing today. That is none other than judge brand jr. Need to talk about the many people come before him in his court and hes made a decision and worked hard to provide them the right leadership to be productive citizens. Sat since 1993 in current term daytoday task doing the same thing today that naacp was doing with lawmaker nine. Should be grateful to judge brand. Were on a tight schedule. Im going to move out of the way and let him come up and begin to give us our Opening Statements and our purpose. Judge brand. Thank you. Thank you mr. Charles. It is my privilege today to participate in the 60th anniversary celebrating and or commemorating and or comi commiserating about the integration of Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Things like the courage of the little rock nine and their families is worthy of celebration and praise. Things like governor faubuss defiance of the rights of the negro students and the United States constitution, defiance of federal court orders and racial hatred and mob violence directed at the nine and others are things that need to be called out for the acts of cowardice which they were and duly remembered for postairity least we go down that road again and im afraid were starting to creep down that road again. Maybe more on that before i finish. The theme of the 60th anniversary is reflections of progress. And events give us a lot to reflect upon at this time. Up for mixed reviews. When brown v. Board of education was issued and made, decision that ordered the end of statesponsored segregated schools, Supreme Court had this to say about the importance of an education. Listen and reflect on this. Today education is perhaps the most important function of state and local governments. Compulsory School Attendance laws and expenditure recognize the importance of education to democratic society. Required in performance of basic public responsibilities, even service in the armed forces. It is the very foundation of informed citizenship. Principal instrument in preparing child for values, training and adjust normally to his environment. These days it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if hes denied ill say she the opportunity for an education. Such an opportunity that the state has undertaken to provide is a right that must be made available to all on equal terms. I submit those words have as much vitality today, maybe more, as when they were uttered in 1954. Went on to talk about segregated schools being bad for black children. To separate them from others because of their race generates feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely to be undone. [ applause ] the impact is greater when it has the sanction of law. For the policy of separating the races is usually interpreted as denoting this isnt supposed to be happening. As denoting the inferiority of the negro group. A sense of inferiority affects the motivation of a child to learn. Segregation with the sanction of law therefore has a tendency to retard the educational and Mental Development of negro children. And to deprive them i dont understand this. And to deprive them of some of the benefits they would have received in a racially integrated School System. Im glad im done with that part. At the time of brown, Thurgood Marshall had established himself i cant see anymore. At the time of brown, Thurgood Marshall had established himself as chief legal strategist for the naacps Legal Defense fund. And he believed that the only way to end racism in america was to have an integrated america, where people would just see each other as their fellow human being, as opposed to just some other person. He also wanted black people to have equal Educational Opportunities. And both of those objectives could only be accomplished if from earliest ages children went to school with one another, sat next to each other, played with one another and had meaningful interaction on a truly integrated basis. In the aftermath of the brown decision, a group of black arkansasens associated with the naacp decided to press the issue of integration in little rock. But Little Rock School district had come up with a plan of gradual integration but arkansas naacp, including the little rock branch, thought that the School Districts plan did not go far or fast enough. It was deliberate speed, as in slow speed, not liking the School Districts plan, arkansas naacp had my father file a lawsuit in federal court on behalf of the negro plaintiffs seeking immediate and full integration of the Little Rock School district, cooper versus aaron. Ended up in the United StatesSupreme Court in 1958. And after the lawsuit was filed in january 1956, my father did enlist the support of other lawyers associated with the naacp. Prior to the critical and historical events of 1957, the case went to trial and the federal judge decided that the little rock plan was an acceptable plan. While the black plaintiffs were disappointed with the judges ruling, the court did two things which paved the way for the events to unfold in little rock the way they did in 1957. First the court adopted the little rock plan and made it the order of the court. Therefore if anyone sought to interfere with the little rock plan going forward, that person or persons would be violating an existing court order. And second the federal court retained jurisdiction of the case so that if there were problems with ism plemtation of the flplan, now a court orde would receive assistance from the Court Without going through all the steps. Then came Minnijean Brown tricky, elizabeth eckford, ernest green, Thelma Mothershed wear, Melba Patillo beals. Terrence roberts, carlotta walls lanier, Jefferson Thomas and gloria ray. When called out the National Guard he was immediately in violation of a federal court order. Because of the earlier lawsuit filed by my father, black plaintiffs were able to go right back to court to seek Enforcement Authority of the federal government. It was erupting crisis in the fall that got mr. Marshall more directly involved in the place. And even though president eisenhower reportedly made private statements he disagreed with brown, he never publicly vilified the courts. He understood his role as president and how our system of government works. Made the decision to call out federal troops to enforce the court and the Constitutional Rights of the nine to attend Little Rock Central High School. There were many significant things what the little rock nine did to contribute to the advancement of civil rights in america and the world. Because of their extraordinary courage caught on photographs and moving film, actions of the angry crowd towards the little rock nine, the children, shamed america before the world. Unfortunately, the United States had to be shamed by many more acts of violence before the passage of significant civil rights legislation in the mid1960s under the administration of Lyndon Baines johnson, the new laws attempted to address Voting Rights, fair housing, public accommodations and equal Employment Opportunities and we have seen substantial progress in all of these areas for many minority groups. Little rock nine and their families, daisy and l. C. Bates, the many lawyers on the team and the community which supported, protected and encouraged them, all of them played an Important Role in our struggle for civil and human rights. But all is not well. We reflect on this question and take little rock as an example but this is an example that exists in other places as well. Little Rock School District is overwhelmingly populated by black students in a city with a majority white population. If brown tells us that segregation harms negro students in 1957, are our students now being harmed in 19 excuse me, 2017, by a resegregated School System which has been caused in some measure by white flight which began with brown and governmental policies . Just something to think about. Trend towards Charter Schools and freedom of choice harming Educational Opportunities of the children left in regular school . Something to think about. And whats up with the states takeover of the Little Rock School district and related disenfranchisement of citizens to elect their own school board and pick the superintendent of their choice. Troubling issues. And what about racism, up front in your face racism or more insidious form known as implicit or unconscious bias. Up until the last president ial election the overt racism had more or less gone into the closet and expressed by only a fringe element. With recent events and statements of the highest of the high political leaders, overt racism has gained new respectability, implicit or unconscious bias has never gone away. Sure, barack obama was elected president for two terms of the United States, which is something i never expected to see in my lifetime. While there are many reasons why the last president ial election turned out the way it did and many of the reasons are being uncovered and deciphered, i submit one factor was racially motivated by overt or implicit bias backlash against president obama. We are at another major cross roads in our history with issues that challenge the core of our democracy and freedom. We all need to remember the grace, courage and determination displayed by the little rock nine when they faced the Political Forces of the state and the angry mob back in 1957. There is much work that remains to be done. In our ongoing quest for equal justice under the law. Thank you. Why dont i give you a couple of seconds to reflect on those words. What a beautiful, beautiful presentation this morning. And i think we all kind of share those feelings. That our judge expressed so well. Thank you. Judge branten. My name is janice f. Kearny and im not as tall as you are. My name is janice f. Kearny and i will be the moderator for this morning as first panel. First of all i would like to thank the city of little rock and specifically bruce moore, who i had never worked with up close until i became a part of the committee and i thank dell charles for that. Im so impressed with his leadership style and his ability to pull things together in spite of so many different personalities he had to work with. And i think the most important glue to that whole thing was knowing that we were celebrating the little rock nine. And he had the whole city behind him in that. And i just give him so much credit for his ability to do that. We have some amazing panelists this morning talking about where we were before 1957. Most of them do not need any introductions. Give you brief introductions on the two who have not spoken this morning. But let me open up and just say that our panel is based on the fact that nothing in our world happens in a vacuum, arkansas, america, the world didnt suddenly wake up in september 1957 and find an imperfect world. It was there already. There was injustice, inhumanity, uncivil rights, unnecessary poverty, discrimination, inequities in everything from schools to hospitals to government jobs. All of this happened before september 1957. Before those nine brave children went into central high school. I do think that its important for those of us who know from common logic that every action is based on another action or inaction. That we have to tell the whole truth, as the judge mentioned. We have a responsibility to. And i think this will be a good start. Thats what well spend the next 45 minutes discussing. And im going to start out with just one question. For mr. Oebia green washington. Shes not just ernie greens big sister. She has a long resume of important work that shes done over the years in education and history. And i think those are two extremely important areas for us to be involved in. Im going to open it up and ask her to talk about what do you think was one of the most important precursers to the 1957 crisis . If you had had a crystal ball, a week, a month, a year before the children, the nine children went into central high, what would you have seen to make you know that little rock was headed to this crescendo that we call the 1957 crisis at central high . Thank you, its such a pleasure to be home again and to participate in this really, really important event. Im going to go back a few decades. In the 40s, my our mother, im sister of ernest green. Our mother and aunt were both teachers at dunbar high school, the colored high school and my alma mater. They were a part of a group of teachers who, in the 40s, filed a lawsuit against the Little Rock School board for equal pay for black teachers. At that time black teachers were paid far less than white teachers with the same credentials. As part of that lawsuit, the naacp and i must mention my brother reminded me this morning that our mother was a lifelong member of the naacp and at that time dutifully paid the 5 a year membership. The naacp supported the Little Rock School teachers in their lawsuit by sending their Legal CounselThurgood Marshall to represent the teachers. Well, my part of that, i was about four years old. And i remember the conversations that my mother and i had about this lawsuit. At one of Thurgood Marshalls visits, our family was asked to host him. Why . Because none of the hotels, by law, would accommodate colored guests. Well again, i mention, i was four. At four, you know a Little Something but not a lot. I remember in the conversation my mother said that Thurgood Marshall would fly into little rock. During that time people traveled by trains for the most part and air travel, propeller planes, jets not invented yet. I recall standing on my step stool at our back window waiting for the plane to land in our back yard. Well, when the doorbell rang and my mother announced that attorney marshall was here, i was absolutely appalled that he would deny me the opportunity to see his plane land. In fact i told his son years later i dont think i ever forgave your father for disappointing me. But that lawsuit was won by the Little Rock School teachers. That group of teachers collected enough money that year to pay the salary of the plaintiff sue Cowan Williams for whu the library is named here in little rock. That is something i will never forget. The film last night also reminded me of Something Else.