Sally Johnson Goes to School

      Sally Johnson was going to school in two days and she was scared to death.

      She wanted to go to the new school because they said that the school was the best in town, but she also knew that there were a lot of people who didn’t want her to go.  A lot.  And this morning, two days  before the start of school, there had even been a story on the front page of the paper:  Billy Joe Thornton and his men’s social club, The Gentleman’s Country Club, were vowing to fight the school board, the city, the state, and so help them, even the United States Supreme Court if they had to.  They were not going to let a girl like her in their school.  Billy Joe Thornton had even been quoted as saying:  “If we let ‘em in our schools, then what?  Our neighborhoods?  Our playgrounds?  I won’t stand for it, I tell you!  Somebody’s got to protect the white children ‘round here, somebody’s got to look after our people, our kind.  And if the law won’t do it, then by golly, we’ll do it ourselves!”

      Reading the article, her hands shook and trembled with fear.  It was so like what had just happened in Arkansas, with those kids they were calling the Little Rock Nine.  The townspeople hadn’t wanted them to go to their school either.  The National Guard had even been called in.  Suddenly, Sally saw herself being hit by rocks,  taunted with insults, and catching spit in her face.  Abruptly, she came to a decision:  she wasn’t going.

        Just as she was settling into her decision and deciding how to break the news to her parents, there was a knock at her bedroom door.    It was her father, Big Daddy, asking if he could come on in.

      “You ready for school, baby girl? Only two more days.”

        She looked down at the floor.  “Uh, yes, sir, about that….”

        Big Daddy sat down on the corner of her bed.  “You not getting cold feet, are you?”

        Her shoulders slumped.  “How did you know?”

        “A father knows, child.  What’s goin’ on?”

        She pulled out the paper, showing him the picture of the white men standing in front of a podium.  Surly-looking men holding obscene signs that made her sick to her stomach. Billy Joe Thornton was at the head of the podium, one hand raised in an angry fist. Big Daddy looked at the picture, his eyes narrowing until they were just slits.  After a long moment,  he handed the paper back to her and said, “What that article be sayin’ darlin’?  Read it to me.”

        And so she read the article to him, not only because she knew Big Daddy couldn’t read, but also because she knew that when he asked her to read something to him, it meant that it was really important.  She read slowly but steadily, trying to keep her voice calm and even, knowing that she wasn’t succeeding.  When she finished, he patted the space next to him on the bed.

        “Come here, baby girl.  Let me tell you somethin’,” he started, as she settled down next to him.  “Did you know that you read somethin’ awful good?  Listening to you read, even ‘bout that  nonsense and them folks, you know what I was thinkin’?  I was thinkin’ damn, listen to my girl read. Never in my life would I’ve thought I’d have me a kid who could read like you, Sally.”  His voice was low and gruff, but sweet and tender, and Sally felt it wrap around her like a warm embrace on cold, cold day. “Them fools that don’t want you to go to their school, you pay them no mind, ya hear?  You got you a right to a good education just like the rest of ‘em, and I’m a see to it that you get it.  You understand me?”

        “Yes, Big Daddy,” she nodded.  “But I’m---“ she stopped short.

        “But what?”

        “I’m scared, Big Daddy.  What if they try and do something?”

        Big Daddy put his arm around her and held her tight.  “Baby girl, you gonna know fear all yo’ life.  You gonna be scared when you get ready to leave this house and be on your own.  You gonna be scared when me or your momma pass on in the night and you wonderin’ what to do next.  You gonna be scared for the children that you gonna have one day:  every step they take across the street, every time they go out.  You gonna know fear.  But the key to life is to face that fear head-on, and fight it.  You gonna win sometimes, you gonna lose sometimes, but if you don’t take no chance at all, you gonna be lost all the days of your life. You understand what I’m saying to you, Sally?”

        “Yes sir.”

        “So then don’t you worry about it none.  Crazy people do crazy things and there ain't nothing you can do about it.  So you gonna go to that school, you gonna learn what you need to learn, and you gonna be just fine. “  He hugged his daughter, and after checking to see if she was alright, he left to leave her be.

        It couldn’t have been more than fifteen minutes later when she heard the explosion.  When Sally ran outside to see what happened, she saw that their car was on fire, with her father inside.  There were men on horses dressed in white, holding torches, and when they saw her, they bellowed a warning:  “We ain’t having no nigras at our school, ya hear?”



        “Sally!  Sally!  You goin’ to be late, girl!  Get on out here!”

         “I’m comin’ Momma!”  Sally rushed about the room, putting together the final touches of her outfit:  ribbons for her hair, bobby socks to go with her Mary Janes, and the white sweater on which  her momma had lovingly embroidered a poodle.  When she was ready, she quickly looked herself over in the mirror.  She twirled left and right, checking and double checking, and then finally decided she was presentable. 

         As she gathered her books and notebook, she paused to pick up the picture on the dresser.  It was the only photograph in her small room, but it was as precious to her as gold.  It was a picture of her with her father, taken only a few days before the terrible assault that had taken his life.  They were out by the old barn, her daddy sitting on a bale of hay, and Sally behind him, her arms wrapped around his big bear chest.  A happy picture of happier times.

         “Sally!  You comin’ girl?” she heard her mother yell up at her.

         “Yes ma’am! I’ll be right there!” 

         It had been a year since that horrible moment.  But in that time, the story of what had happened to Sally’s father had made national news.  An investigation had been launched, and Billy Thornton and his cohorts had been charged with the crime. Whether or not they would be convicted remained to be seen, but it was something.

         The wave of hate and violence that had taken Big Daddy from Sally and had meant to frighten her  had had the opposite effect.  A year ago, she had almost been dead set about going to the white school.  But not anymore.  She knew the cost of fear, and she had decided that she was not going to pay it any longer.

        She whispered a message to her father’s image behind the frame.  “I’m going today, Big Daddy.  I’m going, and there ain’t nothing they can do to stop me.  I ain’t scared no more.”  She brought the picture up to her lips and kissed his image softly.  Then she picked up her school supplies, and headed downstairs to meet her momma.

         “You ready, Sally?” Her mother looked her sternly up and down.

         Sally replied in turn.  “Yes ma’am, I am.”