To our mayor, the city manager, bruce moore, the city board of directors of little rock, to skip rutherford, to the 60th anniversary committee, and for most of all, the little rock nine and their families. We welcome you to the 60th Educational Forum for the city of little rock and the state of arkansas. We thank you for being here and we hope something is said or done that will give you a better understanding when you leave here today and let me digress for a minute, and say that the naacp was the organization that worked and spearheaded the little rock 9. A terrible time in our history. I remind you this was way before the march on washington. Its way before in 1964 civil the 1964 civil rights act. It is way before the 1965 Voting Rights act. People wanted to do to get an education. That is all they were trying 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. Marshall, whoood went on to become a supreme and one of the lawyers for the naacp, along with the parents of the little rock nine went through some of the terrible times recorded in the history of america. The court has said they were entitled to go to school. Yes, this government system in arkansas said no, you will not go to school at central high school. People whose young set out to get an education that is all they wanted to do, to get an education, and were denied that opportunity, and paid a tremendous debt that all of us in this room are enjoying today, and we owe them a great, great gratitude for their contribution for what they went through to make it possible for us to be in this room today. We need to give them some applause. [applause] now, i will not 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. Is the sitting judge not the retired judge, but the sitting judge for the state of arkansas, city of little rock. He is one of three juvenile day, took onay to the task of being a surrogate for young people who have lost their way, and are sitting in the courtroom to offer up many, problemstions to the that the young people face today. And that is none other then judge wiley grant, junior. He has an education degree, he has to have it to be a judge, but we need to talk about the young people who have come before him in his court, and he has made a conscious decision to give them the right leadership so they can be productive citizens. Wiley branton junior has served ,s a sitting judge since 1993 for the current time, on a the samey task, doing thing for young people today was the little rock nine doing when they were trying to get an education, to redirect young people and get them on the right course. For that, we should be grateful to judge Wiley Branton junior. We run a tight schedule, so i will move out of the way and let to give us and begin our Opening Statements and our purpose. Judge Wiley Branton junior. Thank you. [applause] thank you, mr. Charles. It is my privilege today to participate in this 60th anniversary, celebrating and or commemorating, and or commiserating about the events surrounding the integration of Little Rock High School in 1957. Things such as the current of the little rock nine and that of their families is something that is worthy of celebration and praise. Thegs such as governors defiance of the rights of the negro students under the United States constitution. s defiance of federal court orders, and the 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 posterity, unless we are going down that road again, and im afraid we are starting to creep down that road again, but maybe more on that before i finish. The theme of the 60th anniversary is reflections of progress, and fairly recent events certainly give us a lot to reflect upon at this time and the issue of progress is up for mixed reviews. When the blockbuster decision of brown verses board of education was issued in may 1957, a decision which ordered the end of statesponsored segregated schools, the Supreme Court had this to say about the importance of an education listen to this, reflect on this. Today, education is perhaps the most important function of state and local governments. Compulsory School Attendance laws and the great expenditures for education both demonstrate our recognition of the importance of education to our democratic society. It is required in the performance of our most basic public responsibilities, even service in the armed forces. It it is the very foundation of good citizenship. Today, it is a principal instrument and awakening the child to Cultural Values and preparing him for later professional training and in helping him to adjust normally to his environment. In these days, it is doubtful that any child may reasonably expected to succeed in life if he is denied or i will say she the opportunity of an education. Such an opportunity where the state has undertaken to provide it is a right that must be made available to all on equal terms. And i would submit to you today that those words have as much terms. Equal terms. And i would submit to you today that those words have as much vitality today, perhaps even more than when they were uttered in brown went on to talk 1954. About how segregated schools were harmful to black children and again, let me read briefly from brown. To separate them from others of similar age and qualifications, solely because of their rage generates a 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 was usually interpreted as denoting this is not supposed to be happening this is not supposed to be happening. It denotes the inferior of the negro group. 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 them , and to deprive 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 cannot see anymore. [laughter] at the time of brown, circuit marshall had established himself the chief legal strategist surrogate marshall had established himself as the chief legal strategist for the naacp 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 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 omplished if come from a if, from the early stages, children went to school with each other, sat next to each other, played with each other, and had meaningful interaction on a truly integrated basis. In the aftermath of the brown decision, a group of black all caps off arkansas s, which included daisy bates, reverend bates and my father, wylie branten sr, that Wiley Branton senior then a , young lawyer in pine bluff decided to press the issue of integration in little rock but Little Rock School district had had come up with the plan of gradual integration. But the arkansas naacp, including the Little Rock Branch , thought the School Districts plan did not go far or fast enough. It was deliberate speed, as in slow speed. Not liking the School District plan the arkansas naacp had my , father to file a lawsuit on behalf of the neego plaintiffs seeking the immediate and full integration of the little rock district. Lawsuit eventually became known as cooper versus aaron. It ended up in the United StatesSupreme Court in 1958. After the lawsuit was filed in january 1956, my father did enlist the support of other lawyers associated with the naacp. To the critical and historical events in 1957, the case went to trial, and the federal judge decided that the little rock plan was an acceptable plan. He black plaintiffs were disappointed with the judges ruling, but the court did two things to pave the way for events to unfold in little rock the way they did in 1957. First of all, 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, now a court order, the plaintiffs could seek immediate relief in Court Without having to start all over from scratch if there were problems with implementation. And then came to the nine, walking onto the world stage. Miss mini jean brown tricky, mr. Earnest green, ms. Thelma mothershed wear, ms. Melba beales, ms. Carleta walls beer and jefferson thomas, who passed away in 2010. When the governor tried to call about National Guard to block the admission of the little rock nine to the central Rock High School he was immediately in , violation of a federal court order. Because of the earlier lawsuit filed by my father, they were able to go right back to court and seek enforcement the Enforcement Authority of the federal government. It was the erecting crisis in the fall that got erupting crisis in the fall that got mr. Marshal more directly involved in the case. And although president eisenhower made private statements that he disagreed with brown, he never publicly vilified the courts. He understood his role as president and how our system of government works. Ultimately, he made the decision to call out the federal troops to enforce the authority of the federal court and to enforce the Constitutional Rights of the nine to attend little rock central. There were many significant things about what the little rock nine did to contribute to the advancement of civil rights in america and the world. Because of their extraordinary courage, which was caught on photographs and moving film, the actions of the angry crowd for the little rock nine, toward the children, shamed america before the world. Statesnately, the united had to be shamed by many more acts of violence before the passage of significant civil rights legislation in the mid1960s on the administration of Lyndon Baines johnson. These attempted to address Voting Rights, fair housing, public accommodations, and equal employment opportunities. In fact, we have seen substantial progress in all of these areas for many minority groups. The little rock nine and their daisy and elsie bates, lawyers wylie branlten Wiley Branton senior and Thurgood Marshall, and others on the team and the community who supported, protected and encouraged them, all of them played an Important Role in our struggle for civil 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. The Little Rock School district is overwhelmingly populated by black students in a city where we have a majority white population. If brown tells us that segregation horns negro students in 1957, are our students now 7 by a recentin 201 related school system, which has been caused in some measure by white flight, which began with brown, and governmental policy . Just something to think about. If the trend towards charter choice harmingmo the Educational Opportunities of children who are left in regular schools . Something to think about. sd what is up with the state take over the Little Rock School district and the disenfranchisement of students to pick the superintendent of their choice . These are troubling issues. And what about racism . Whether it be the upfront, in your face racism, or perhaps the more insidious form of racism, known as implicit or unconscious bias. Lasttil the president ial election, the over racism had more or less gone into the closet and was expressed by only a fringe element. With recent events and statements of the highest of the high political leaders, over 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 was something i had 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 those reasons are still ,eing uncovered and deciphered i submit that one of the factors that played into our most recent election was a racially motivated, either by overt or implicit bias, backlash against president obama. [applause] are another major crossroads in our history with issues that challenge the very core of our democracy and freedom. Remember theo grace, courage, and determination displayed by the little rock nine when they faced the Political Forces of the inte and the angry mob, back 1957. There is much work that remains to be done in our ongoing quest for equal justice under the law. Thank you. [applause] ms. Kerny wild and 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. My name is janis f. Kerny and im not as tall as you are. My name is janis f. Kerny and i will be the moderator for this mornings first panel and i would like to first of all 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 think dale charles for that. I am so impressed with his abilityip style and his to pull things together in spite of so many different personalities that he had to work with. I think the most important clue to that whole thing was knowing that we were celebrating the little rock nine. He had the whole city behind him in that. I give him so much credit for ability to do that. We have some amazing panelists this morning, who will be talking about where we were before 1957. Most of them do not need any introductions i will give you a very brief introduction on those two that have not spoken this morning. But let me open up and 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, there was inhumanity, uncivil rights, unnecessary poverty, discrimination, inequities and 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. So 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 judgments and. We have a responsibility to, and i think judge mentioned. We have a responsibility to, and i think that will be a good start. So thats what well spend the next 45 minutes discussing. And and im going to start out with just one question, for ms. Trio ia a greenwashington treop greenwashington. Bigis not just mr. Greens sister. She has a long resume of important work that she has done in education and history, and i think those are two extremely important areas for us to be involved in. So im going to open it up to treopia and aske to ask her to talk about what you think was the most port and precursor to the 1957 crisis . A you had a crystal ball 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 the 1957 that we call crisis at central high . Ms. Greenwashington 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 1940s, my our mother and im the sister of earnest our mother and our aunt were both teachers at dunbar high school, that was the colored high school and my alma mater. They were a part of the group of teachers who, in the 1940s, 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. Lawsuit, thethat naacp 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 five dollars a year membership. The naacp supported the Little Rock School teachers in their lawsuit by sending their legal counsel, Thurgood 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 marshals visits, our family was asked to host him. Why . Because none of the hotels by law would accommodate colored guests. Well, again i mentioned i was four, and at four, you know a Little Something but not a lot. I remember in the conversation, my mother said that are good marshall would fly into little rock. During