Warriors Don’t Cry follows the life journey of Melba Beals since her birth on Pearl Harbor day (7 December 1945). In chapter five of the book, Beals makes a very bold statement that has puzzled most critics of her work to this day. She states “Freedom is not integration.” The first thing that comes to the mind of the audience is the nature under which Beals grew. At the time, racial discrimination was at its best, and no one could entertain the thought of integration between the whited and the blacks. The term warriors in this scenario are used to represent all the black people who endured this cruelty perpetrated by their white counterparts. By stating that freedom is not integration, Beals alludes to some form of restriction that she seems to have experienced since the beginning of the book. Her loving and caring parents, as well as some of her friends, are very keen to ensure that she does not fall victim of the hatred between the whites and the blacks. As such, in many respects, she is monitored and told what she could or cannot do in most of her young life. This simple act of integration that is supposed to promote unity between the warring sides and consequently give people more freedom ends up having the opposite effect on her life. To her, as well as to many of the readers, integration, particularly between the whites and the African American, is a very much-welcomed move (Christensen, 2014). No one enjoys or thrives in chaos as well as everyone admires the freedom to move from one point to the other as well as interact and talk to whoever they wish without the fears of getting discriminated on the grounds of race. However, in Beals’ case, integration has brought more pain and restriction than she can image.
The implementation and enforcement of integration policies end up stealing her freedom as well as that of her community, hence looking them down. This move stirred up as well as angered most of the whites during this era to the point that they sought to unleash their anger on the African Americans among them. This is entirely the opposite of what the integration was meant to bring to the people. A careful look at the book shows that Beals has been advancing and supporting this statement since the begging of the books. Following the end of racism and the heinous slavery that was brought down by the emancipation proclamation, the American society was expected to live together in peace and harmony (Christensen, 2014). The proclamation declared that everyone irrespective of whether they are white or black was equal and therefore, was entitled to equal treatment. In other terms, the proclamation sought the integration of the American society. However, instead of bringing the much anticipated and long-awaited freedom; the emancipation proclamation brought more suffering to African Americans. As much during this period, physical violence had reduced, Beals notices that from an economic perspective, they are yet to be free. She realizes this after her father fails to confront Mr. Waylan, a grocer who constantly overcharges their family. It is at this point that Beals realizes that not even her father can protect her from the white man. He is the one in charge.
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Following the declaration of “separate but equal” policy to be illegal, the African Americans expect more freedom to use all the facilities as well as receive equal treatment as the whites. However, this once again creates more tension between the two groups. Teachers in school are left with no option but to release students early than usual and warn them to watch for trouble. By this out, Beals alludes and suggests that freedom does not translate to integration. Moreover, she gives a personal example. A Whiteman infuriated by the courts ruling attempts to rape Beals, but she gets help from Merissa. Upon arrival at home, her grandmother, India directs her to sob in the tab with the objective of washing away the evil of the white man. To make it worse, her parents choose not to report the incidence to the police. This indicates that their protector, the police, cannot even guarantee justice irrespective of being the enforcers of integration. Beals’ parents choose to contain the incidence rather than get humiliated by the biased justice system as well as expose their child to the side effects of such cases (Christensen, 2014).
Even though Beals is free, she has to get the approval of every decision that she makes from her parents. However, when she signs up to join the Little Rock High School, she realizes that not even her parents are in support of integration. Her mother rebukes her for making such a huge decision without consulting them. Her mother’s main concern is that by signing up for Little Rock, Beals has exposed the entire to great danger. Beals comes to realize this in person after she family receives a bomb threat, which forces her grandmother to sleep with her shotgun by her side. When they proceed to protest integration at Little Rock, Beals and her mother escape narrowly from an angry group of five white males. She later gets a personal threat from an unknown voice that promises to get her. This experience culminates in a freedom-less environment that a child should not grow up in. For any child, freedom is the ability to do whatever they want whenever they want it. However, Beals realizes that every that she does must be approved or sanctioned by elder family members. She cannot even go to watch a wrestling match with her grandmother. To her, this is what freedom would mean. Instead, freedom is snatched away from her as well as other people by the enforcement of integration upon the community by the federal government. This move angers the community towards African Americans that consequently makes it unsafe as blacks fear aggression from the whites (Christensen, 2014). As such, integration makes it impossible for Beals to go out as well as exercise her freedom.
Beals’ long exposure to newspapers and interaction with journalists in Central High School greatly inspired her carefully look into “those corners where otherwise invisible people are forced to hide as their truth is ignored” (Beals 1994). For a long time, she had read and experienced discrimination in the treatment of certain incidents at Central High School. The close incident that she came across in the paper is the harassment of her friend Minnijean. The Wednesday Arkansas Gazette read, “Negro girl is suspended from school after an incident” (Beals 1994). The incident occurred after Minnijean dumped a bowl of chili to the heads of white boys who were taunting her. She was, however, not permitted to re-apply to the school until six-days expired. Upon readmission, Minnijean got into another incident where she kicked a white boy harassing her in the groin. The following newspapers paper reads, “They bother me all the time…” These incidents among other play a key role in inspiring Beals to voice on the topic as an NBC news correspondent. The injustices that they carry acts as a motivating factor that pushes her to look carefully into the issue. The reporters she met in Central High Schools play a central role not only in inspiring her to become an accomplished reporter, but also strive to expose the truth.
References
Beals, M. (1995). Warriors Don't Cry: Searing Memoir of Battle to Integrate Little Rock . Simon and Schuster.
Christensen, L. (2014). Warriors Don’t Cry: Acting for justice. Rethinking Schools , 18 (3), 48-50.
