Western Courier

Issue date: 2/13/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Tony Aldridge Sheila Arnold spoke about the Civil Rights movement Monday night.

On Monday, Currens Room 205 was occupied with students who had come to watch Sheila Arnold give an impersonation of Civil Rights activist and leader of The Little Rock Nine, Daisy Lee Gatson Bates.

Arnold, donning a simple housewife dress and black wig, took the audience back to 1957, where the country was in the midst of racial tensions and its citizens were on the brink of a new way of life. Standing elegantly and speaking softly, she began to tell a story of the role she played in integrating Central High School of Little Rock, Ark.

"I have not come here to take up too much of your time," Arnold began. "I don't want to hold you in the past too long, but I do want to keep you there long enough as to where you begin to think about your own present and your own future, not simply for yourself but also for your country."

For the next hour, Arnold gave an emotional performance of the life of the woman who played an important role in the integration of American schools. She spoke of Bates' own personal tragedies and the professional accomplishments that made up her life. Bates, whose mother had been raped and murdered by white men when she was young, was left with an intense hatred for the white race that only "became more fueled with time."

It wasn't until later in her life, when her father's dying words resonated and pushed her to fight the prevalent injustices of the Southern lifestyle.

"I have not much to give you," he had told her. "Nothing of material substance to pass on, but what I can give you is this: Do not hate white people because of the color of their skin. Hate discrimination, hate the atrocity, hate the prejudice, but do not hate the person. You can only change things for the better after you change the anger inside of you."

Arnold spoke of how Bates did just that and dedicated her life to fighting racial discrimination, first as a journalist and eventually as president of the Arkansas NAACP branch. She made it clear that the students who made up The Little Rock Nine did not mean to be heroes.

They were not looking to make history, "they were simply nine ordinary kids who wanted an education; nine kids who wanted to go to school," Arnold said.

But she added the struggle against injustice did not stop there. "It is your obligation if you see someone being torn down due to any reason other than their character to stand against it," she said.

With that, Arnold removed her wig, flung off her shoes and Daisy Bates disappeared as quickly as she had arrived. In her place stood Sheila Arnold, who, though not as widely known as Bates, offered some very insightful parting words of her own.

"Hatred can abide in all of us when we are in the presence of something that frightens us. We can have that same reaction as the integration protestors, but we must stop ourselves. The college students of the '60s changed the world, and we can make a difference now. It's your time, not my time; it's your world now," Arnold said.

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