Sixty five years ago, 6-year-old Ruby Bridges—who is Black—walked to William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans at the onset of her first-grade year through a gauntlet of adults throwing food at her and screaming that she didn’t belong.
On Friday, 10-year-old Bradley Elementary School student Ruby Alvarado joined about 100 people on a walk of their own in Watsonville to commemorate that event.
The Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day was launched in 2018 by a group of fifth-graders in San Francisco who decided Ruby Bridges’ struggle—and the lessons that came from it—should be commemorated. It has since been mirrored in communities nationwide on Nov. 14.
Ruby Alvarado said she was watching the Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees meeting online on Wednesday when she learned of the walk.
“It looked like a nice, fun thing to do with the community,” she said, adding that Ruby Bridges’ experience paved the way for students who came after her.
“Now we can all drink out of the same fountains and go to the same schools,” she said. “It’s important to do this so it won’t happen again.”
The group began the short walk in the parking lot of CineLux theater on Green Valley Road, and headed to Pajaro Valley High School.
Organizer Minc Robinson Brooker, who teaches government, economics, ethnic literature and biology at PV High, started the event three years ago as a way to combat an ongoing societal problem.
“Racism is alive and well in the United States,” she said.
And the problem has worsened under the current federal administration, Brooker said.
“People have been emboldened to show their hate,” she said. “But I have hope that kindness, unity, courage, empathy, integrity, and most of all love, are going to make a difference. It made a difference for Ruby. And I believe in my heart that we should stand firm for what we know is right for each other, because we have to do it for each other, not for ourselves.”
Brooker said that Ruby Bridges, in her youthful innocence, had no idea her presence was controversial.
She thought the adults and children screaming at her and throwing food were part of a Mardi Gras celebration.
Perhaps the hatred became evident when she was not allowed in the school cafeteria or on the playground. A woman who showed her a coffin containing a black doll may have tipped her off that something was amiss.
Parents pulled their children out of Ruby’s class, making her the only student for the entire year. U.S Marshals escorted her to the bathroom for fear she’d be attacked. But her teacher treated her the same as any other student, and became her sole playmate during school days.
Ruby made it through the experience, and in the intervening years has become an activist, sharing her story in hopes of quelling the hatred she endured.
Part of that legacy is the Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day.
Maximiliano Barraza, 15, who serves as the Black Student Union President at PV High, said that it is vital for young people to know Ruby Bridges’ story.
“It’s relevant for the students here to know who she is because she’s one of the reasons why we’re here in the first place,” he said. “She is one of the reasons why we’re able to have such diversity in our schools.”
Ixel Barraza, who serves as the organization’s vice-president, spoke of an incident at the Lemon Grove Grammar School, where on Jan. 5, 1931, Mexican-American students were barred from attending classes.
Instead, they were shunted to a run-down barn.
The students’ parents fought the decision, and the case—Roberto Alvarez v. the Board of Trustees of the Lemon Grove School District—became one of the first successful desegregation efforts in the U.S.
“Ruby Bridges’ struggle is one that has been faced by students of color throughout the U.S., and throughout the history of this country,” Ixel Barraza said. “We are all Ruby Bridges. We are all the children of Lemon Grove and continue their struggle to this very day.”
Santa Cruz County Superintendent of Schools Faris Sabbah said that the walk has spread to San Lorenzo Valley and Santa Cruz City School District.
“But it was at PV High that this got started, and I am so grateful to this community for celebrating this moment,” he said.
We’d like to thank everyone for participating in the Ruby Bridges Walk…there was a good turnout!….this means more and more people are aware of her bravery and the significance of what she did….
we are grateful to all but especial Mrs Booker for organizing it
signed
Sean Hennessey
Ryan Atilano-Fletes