Weekly Reflection: Remembering the Victims of School Related Violence

The awful litany of school related violence continued this week as three student athletes were killed in a campus shooting at the University of Virginia on November 13. In addition to those who were killed and wounded, many other students were terrorized as the campus went into lock down for twelve hours. This generation of college students has spent their school years from kindergarten to the present enduring the emotional trauma of practicing active shooter drills and the additional trauma of dealing with the aftermath of actual school shootings throughout our country. So far our local and national leaders have not had the moral or political will to enact meaningful legislation that adequately addresses the epidemic of gun violence.

Even as we mourn the victims of the most recent incident of school related gun violence, it is important to remember another kind of school related violence that took place at this same time of year in 1960 in New Orleans. On November 14 of that year, a six year old Black child named Ruby Bridges desegregated William Franz Elementary School after years of local and state sponsored efforts to prevent integration. When she was permitted to attend that school, she was met by an angry mob of white people who hurled hateful insults at her and even threatened to poison her food. The photo of her posted above shows Ruby being accompanied by Federal Marshalls who were assigned to help her enter and leave the school without being attacked. Once inside the building, school officials who largely opposed integration assigned her to a classroom by herself along with her teacher, Barbara Henry, who had recently come from the North. She spent that entire school year as the only child in that classroom. Despite being subjected daily to the verbal and emotional violence of this form of systemic racism, Ruby prayed regularly for the people who persecuted her. The faith and patient endurance of this young child paved the way for other Black children to attend the school the following year. The video posted below provides a glimpse into her experience during the 1960-61 school year. Ruby grew up to be a leader in the ongoing struggle for racial justice and reconciliation. She continues that work today. As people of faith, we are called to oppose and work to prevent violence in all its forms. While the challenges are great, the examples of people such as Ruby Bridges show us the power of faith based nonviolence over fear and hatred which are the roots of all forms of violence.