Willy toombs. I am the seed of the crisis. That history was planted in me, and i grow. And as i grow, i continue to sprout bits and pieces of that history. And im thankful. Im thankful because without the central high crisis, my life would be totally different than what it is now. But because i have learned to love and still love to learn, i am blessed with the opportunity to introduce to you some panelists that will talk about whats happened since the crisis. First of all, i will say that our first two speakers will be members of the little rock nine. And you have to forgive us because this is a very busy day, they will be exiting as soon as theyre finished speaking because they have other events they must attend. Let me introduce the panelists and then well get started. One of our youngest members is krystle c mercer, little rock born. Her artistic talents have been displayed around the state in new york and canterbury, england. She fuses art and activism to tell social justice narratives through merchandising and storytelling. Her Public Service complements the Public Service of her lawyer. Civil rights we have an associate professor of social work with a masters level degree. A licensed certified social worker in the state of arkansas, registered therapist, supervisor and clinical member of the American Association for marriage and family therapy. Her experience includes mental health, Child Protective Services and private practice. She earned her phd in family therapy. She also serves as a senior pastor. Coach eddie boone graduated from home in high school in arkansas. Is a charter member of the National Federation of intercultural interscholastic athletic association. Lifetime member to arkansas activities association, little rock retired Classroom Teachers association, Arkansas Education association, National Education association, retired activities supervisor with the city of little rock parks and recreation. He was married to the former lorraine eastman. We have an investor of little rock since 1957. She is the daughter of howell and lewis payton putillo. Her roots are in the state prior to the civil war. She earned a bachelor of arts in journalism from San Francisco state in a masters from Columbia University school of journalism. She has written two Award Winning books. Carlotta is the youngest, and has been an ambassador of little rock since 1957. Her arkansas roots are deep into the 1960s. She continued the family trade of selfemployment when operating her Real Estate Brokerage firm in colorado. She continued the family trait of selfemployment when her Real Estate Brokers firm in colorado. And with that id like to start this part of the section by giving melbur bills an opportunity to speak to you. Im going to reverse your decision because camallo has information that goes prior to mine. Im not being bitchy. Thats ok. We can do it like that. [laughter] morning . Still good morning. Yes, melba would probably like me to speak first. What id like to say upfront is this. I am the only one of the group living today that experienced 1959, 1960 at little rock Central High School. I speak the name of jefferson thomas, who was also with me, who graduated with me in may of 1960. We are two that experienced that year without the troops. I think were the only in fact, i know were the only two that from the 10th grade through the 12th grade that experienced everything that you heard before, in the middle of the lost year and then the year of graduating in may of 1960. I would like to say and uplift those that were helpful to jefferson and i in the 12th grade. We did not have the troops, we did not have the extra help to protect us during that particular time. But that did not say we did not have problems. We continue to have problems with some of those that were determined to keep us out. But the leadership, i think, did not want to go through the 1957 19571958 time frame. So my senior clas members took a my senior class members took a little bit extra effort in trying to quell some of the things that were going on. Unfortunately in february of 1960, my home was bombed. I was fortunate enough, my mother and two sisters and myself happened to be on the other side of the home and was able to be here to tell you about it. My father unfortunately because of the fact he was having trouble getting jobs, when they would find out he was the father central, wasse at not there because he was working at his fathers cafe at the time. It happened around 10 30. And because he was not there, he was considered a suspect. Along with my friend who lived up the street by the name of herbert months muntz. Id like to put his name into the record because he was incarcerated for five years for bombing my home, which i knew he had not done. [applause] i hear that there are a couple of professors here in little rock that is trying to get his records expunged. I hope that does happen. I understand it is on the governors desk. And i would hope that they would see to it there was no way possible he could have done that. We knew it. Unfortunately, without having the legal help extended to him, he could only afford so much. And unfortunately, he spent 18 months of that five years in prison here in arkansas. But i will say with that, in may of 1960, jefferson and i graduated. And let me tell you, i knew that i had completed the task that i started. [applause] i needed that diploma. That diploma validated everything that i had gone through. I caughtvery next day, the first train smoking out of little rock. I felt never to return but i did six years later. And since then ive seen a lot of changes, i see progress going on. I see progress going on in our country. I also see that there is a necessity for us to be vigilant about what is going on in our country, speak up, get involved, vote, help change what is going on in this country. As you know, there are people trying to reverse what is going on, all of the progress we have made. And thats pretty much what i really would like to say today. So thank you very much for that opportunity. [applause] good morning. Ive been requested i move a little bit to the center. Im dr. Melva patelo veels. I think that perhaps what im going to do is tell you a little bit about what happened and then you can ask questions. So think about what you want to ask me. After the little rock central high incident, prior to when carlotta went back, most of us were told to get out of little rock because we were under great pressure. And the ku klux klan was debt, 5,000 5,000 alive. And at the time i had someone call up my grandmother and they said get her out. During this time right afterwards everybody got out of little rock. And what happened was the naacp sought avenues for us to get out, and there were avenues sought all over the place. In many instances, families sponsored us were contributed to help us get settled in other places. If youre going to talk to us, each one of the nine has a different settlement story. I was sent from here to San Francisco, california, where i almost had a heart attack. I wanted to live with a black family, i wanted my own phone and a subscription every magazine. Plane, 13 off the white people rushed towards me to hug me. If youre from little rock, no white folks were rushing to hug you and less they have a rope in their back market pocket. But it would change my life. The were the woman and man who i would call my mother and father. He turned out to be dr. George mccabe, the founder of Sonoma State University and in sonoma, california. My mother was an activist. And she combined with my birth mother. The collaboration through my mother, who had been a professor, and those people in santa rosa, was shattering for me because theres no way out. But on the other hand, my father changed my name. Would not let me use my first name, except maybe joy. Would not allow many have any interviews interviews by the press. Took away all my privileges. Youre not a star, baby. Youve got to make it through school like the rest of us. Were going to do some good and some homework. Were not traveling anywhere. Were going to have to earn our money from the baseline. Bed ando make your check with me when youve got your housework done. So when i first got there, i was frightened to death. Im leaving with these white folks. I dont know what they are going to do to me at night, but they built me a bed by hand. Later, that they were building me, my selfesteem. My dad said look here, you are never less than my daughter, never less than my child. And thats how its going to be always. No one can deny you anything, because you are not meant to be denied anything. When i was taken downtown to the santa rosa Swimming Pool and forbidden to swim, my father got the rest of his teacher friends from Sonoma State University, put signs in the air and said, hey, were going to march until you let her swim. When the neighbors came over to say, what is nigger swimming in our neighborhood and they started throwing rocks, my daddy got some rocks and started throwing back. They were not very wealthy but straightline people who were teachers. They were quakers. Fighters for rights and preschools. My mother set of only Public Television station in santa rosa, california. At her funeral everybody looked at me and i was the only black person there. They also, oh my goodness, that is why your mother dragged you around all the time. She kept you with her. People in town wondered who i was, because there were very few black people there. But they stood up against whatever happened and they showed me a lot not by what they said, but their behavior, how they treated me. My father took me to school to register on the first day, and people looked at him like he was crazy. And he said this is my daughter, and im here to register her for school. She is going to Start College today. Each one of us has heart wrenching stories about where we went, what we did. Some went off to University Like arnie green. Each of us went through the whole process of orienting ourselves to adulthood and life. But among our greatest needs during this period was a healing. We had to find our balance, who are we, why are we on earth . Why are they taking pictures of us . What are we going to do later . What the most important question that hung in the air as carlotta mentioned was, have we done the right thing . And when we received the congressional gold medal of honor in the white house, it hit us all. Yeah, you did. You did what you were supposed to do, you did what god assigned you to do. You did the right thing and many people will benefit. As children, teenagers, you dont understand that. Understand why even though Martin Luther king said to us i was complaining. And he said, hey, look here melva, you are not doing this for yourself. Dont be selfish. You are doing this for generations unborn, for people you have not met, people you will never see. I did not understand that at all. I didnt understand how what we act, a an International National act and an act that affected the people of arkansas. In my minds eye the white people who were in Central High School and those battling against us, we were all going through a lesson. And all of it was a part of kind of an orchestration of a higher power to determine that we all learn this lesson that either were going to make it together or we aint going to make it. And as long as one of us is not free, none of us is free. And so it was a huge, hard, hard fought lesson, which would affect me for the rest of my life. For example, therapists say the reason why i lose weight and gain it, and lose weight and gain it is because when i am fat i feel less vulnerable. And ive had psychological fears all my life. Everyone of us has residue left. Its not fun walking down the hallways knowing you will be hit any minute. We have things we all live with. Out of the nine of us, five of us are blood cousins, that whatever we are, we are connected. We miss each other. I miss gloria. I miss jefferson. I told gloria yesterday like she was here. I love jean. I miss her telling me what to do next because im kind of boring. Carlotta is in charge, if youve got a social engagement, shes going to do it. Shes the one who was the main mentor of our little rock nine foundation. Shes a hardworking lady. Youve got to know where things are. When mr. Ernie green speaks, we follow. Because he is the oldest of us. Kerry is here to tell us jokes and enjoy and give us a spiritual thing. We all blend together and its a blend of love. We have respect for each other. Couldnt have made it through that without each other. Its as though god said im going to mix you a formula. When i put it all together, all your personalities, will fall into place and you will see how you each enable each other. And every single time we get together, every single one of us falls into that pattern. Ernie the boss, carlotta the organizer. If she says get to the airport by 7 00 a. M. , i know by butt better be there or its over. We all take our parts up. Gloria is dignified, knowing the history. Going to inform us. Everybody has a role. How do i feel about this . It is a unique experience. I will never be as close to anyone on the planet as these people because they know what really happened to us. At that age, we could not talk to our mother or father. Later on our sons, children, all interrelated, know and talk to each other and all say how int t affected their lives. Of course. But we didnt go around saying, look here, we are the little rock nine, we are important look , at your history. I didnt say anything. My boys went to school and came home at five and said, hey, we saw a book in the library, warriors something or other. Looksk woman in the back like you but had no makeup. You know, you could look a lot better than you do. [laughter] somebody came to the door to interview me and they said, no, wrong house, slammed door. Werent living as stars. Little rock nine. We all have individual lives. Gloria has lived her life in im going to get this wrong, sweden. With her kids and husband. Jean lived ainnie lot of her life in canada. Social worker. Always grassroots organizer, going to speak her mind. People played different roles. I was an nbc newscaster. For me, the news people here set a tone. I realized i watch them operate. If its in the news, hard to hang somebody when someone is writing it down, got a camera going. I became a News Reporter for nbc. I was with abc, and when i got done, i taught and ran a Public Relations company. I really believed that exposure in the news was what gets it. I was a professor and went on to retire and start writing books. Each of us has an interesting pathway weve climbed, interesting things weve all done in our lives. So you would have to look up each of the individual histories to get them. But we all grew up with the blessings of lord jesus. Thats how i feel. What could have happened to us didnt. When they gave us those incredible statues downtown at the capitol, we all looked at each other and said, huh. Terry was Walking Around with his grandson and we said, we didnt know we would live this long. Same thing first night we were here. How old are you . Im 75 too. Youre going to be 76 when . Minnie jean telling me im due for another birthday. I dont want to hear that. We know that on earth, only love is a healer. If not taking care of things and looking at what is going on around you, get off your butt and do so. It is you who decides what happens in the future. Dont forget where we came from. I never forget. Dont tell me we havent made some progress, people. I remember being that little girl who rode on that bus in the back of the bus. I remember sitting in front and getting on and slapped by bus man, and my grandmother dragging me to the back. I remember the water fountains. I thought to myself, hell i got a crayon, who is going around putting signs on everything that says white only . I just need paper and pen to redo this. [laughter] i just need a moment. Thats what is sad about life here. When i was four years of age, is said to my mother where did we , come from . She said, you were brought by the stork. The stork comes around and you have the privilege i said well, ok. I got my red wagon, went to the front of the house and sat there for days and days. To this day, i know you better wear a sun hat. It hurt the top of my head, the sun did. You know what i was waiting for . By,nted the stork to come pick my butt up and get me out of here. I figured if he could deliver, he could pick up. That was my reasoning. Thats how badly i felt about watching my parents transform in the household from interesting people to when we went to local grocery store, yes, sir, no, sir. My grandmother reached for box of baking powder one day. I said, you know you cant do that. You cant take things off the shelf. We take them off. She stood in line to get meat. Somebody else came in, knocked out of line. People say to a sometimes, why did you want to go to Central High School . I bet you wanted to marry somebody white. My grandmother used to say to me, hey, you aint courting until youre 18. And you sure the heck aint getting married now. Thats not a purpose. That was never on any of our minds. You know what, we just wanted a better education. All right. Like there is some big, huge reason . We wanted a better life for our children and a better education. With that i will say that god in me is the god in you, were all the same. There is no difference. The same feelings of honor and courage that helped me go through the incredible experience of being in Central High School that would mark me and my family for the rest of our lives rests in you. You have to move ahead and march on. Grandmother used to say when i complained, march forward, girl, move on. Load is heavy, train is hot, its a heavy load. Keep moving on. I tell you, its not perfect, but its better. Not as perfect as i thought it would be but its ok. Im going to keep moving on, what are you going to do . I will now take a couple of questions. Thanks for listening