Saturday, March 27, 2004.

Dr. Terrence Roberts, one of the 'Little Rock Nine,' talks about the impact of Brown vs. Board of Education

Americans still have a lot of work to do to make the historic Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court decision a reality, said Terrence Roberts, one of the original "Little Rock Nine."

"This country is still in a state of reverence of all things white," said Roberts - something we must acknowledge to solve problems of racial inequality.

Roberts, a clinical psychologist and desegregation consultant, recounted his experience as a 15-year-old chosen to desegregate Central High in Little Rock , Ark. , in 1957. He endured almost daily beatings and even had a personal tormentor. In one incident, Roberts recalled being surrounded by 50 to 60 students when a baseball-bat-wielding teen confronted him, then turned away saying, "If you weren't so small ..."

"He could've bashed in my skull, but some spark of humanity he couldn't override saved me," Roberts said.

The biggest tragedy of the experience, Roberts said, was when Gov. Orval Faubus chose to close every high school in Little Rock . "If he couldn't have a segregated school system he didn't want one (at all)," Roberts said.

The effects of that decision are still being felt as those students, who never graduated from high school, cannot qualify for certain jobs. "That was one of the tragic elements of that time," Roberts said. He also noted that Little Rock schools are again segregated as a result of the "white flight."

Roberts gave RA delegates a four-step action plan "so at some point we can realize the true promise of the Brown decision."

• Develop a high-level self-awareness - "You need to understand who you are and what biases you carry around - this is a lifelong process," he said.
• Commit - Of the five levels of commitment, the most effective is the "I'll do whatever it takes" approach, Roberts said.
• Options - Roberts said more people need to realize the small amount of information we actually know and commit ourselves to learning - and doing - more. "We need to choose what to do here," Roberts said.
• Action - "Put it into action realizing it might not work," Roberts said.

Realizing there is much to be done, delegates passed a resolution celebrating the 50th anniversary of the historic civil rights decision, which established that public education could not be racially segregated. The resolution reaffirmed the union's commitment to support efforts toward making the decision a reality.