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( sobs )

This is not supposed to be like this.

It can't be 50 years-- I can't--

feel this... so strong.

It doesn't make sense.

It doesn't.

You're supposed to be over it.

We thought we were going to school.

We did not know that we were going to run headlong

into the American white supremacist

blockading people.

Newsreel announcer: This is Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas.

The time is two hours before classes commence

on the first day of the autumn term.

The National Guard is standing by

at every entrance to the high school

because the integration question is now facing

the citizens of this Southern community for the first time.

A crowd of several hundred people

gathered across the street from the high school--

all people who favor segregation,

oppose the beginning of integration.

First of all, I'd like to say, sir,

it has been the pattern of life from time immemorial.

I am for segregation because it's biblical.

Colored people here in the South have got better schools

than some of the white kids like it is.

Let 'em go to their own school.

Announcer: Several hundred National Guardsmen

and state troopers, armed with anti-riot equipment,

are standing by on the order of Governor Orval Faubus.

Orval Faubus: It will not be possible

to restore or to maintain order

and protect the lives and property of the citizens

if forcible integration is carried out tomorrow

in the schools of this community.

( crowd jeering )

Reporter: Can you tell me your name, please?

Are you going to go to school here at Central High?

You don't care to say anything, is that right?

This girl here was the first...

Negro apparently of high school age

to show up at Central High School

the day that the federal court ordered it integrated.

She was followed in front of the school by an angry crowd,

many of them shouting epithets at her.

President Eisenhower: An extreme situation has been created in Little Rock.

This morning, the mob again gathered

in front of the Central High School of Little Rock

for the purpose of again preventing

the admission of Negro children to that school.

Mob rule cannot be allowed

to override the decisions of our courts.

Reporter: This is Central High School

the morning that the colored students

are expected to return back to school,

this time under the protection of the 101st Airborne Division.

Minnijean Brown: The serious moment is when we

get out of the car and were surrounded

by the soldiers,

and that was something--

I'll never forget that.

I didn't care courts, I didn't care soldiers,

I didn't care presidents, governors.

I decided that I would get in that school.

Reporter: Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas.

The colored students are in.

They're going to spend a full day in there now

in integrated classes.

- ( buzzer sounds ) - Man: All right, ladies and gentlemen,

that was the bell. Let's walk.

Let's go, let's go! That's the bell.

Let's go, let's go!

( students chattering )

( whistle tweets )

Time to go up!

( tweets ) Go on.

Hey now, that whistle's too loud.

Woman on P.A.: Good morning, Little Rock Central High School.

As we move along with our Black History Month,

I would like to propose something

that we are going to try to do today and Monday.

I want to do mix-up day.

I have observed-- it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see

how all of you sit with your friends

whom you've been with, some of you, since elementary school.

And I would like to propose that you find

other people who are different from you

to sit with today and Monday.

I think that's gonna be fun.

The quote for the day from Jesse Owens,

Olympic track star, is,

"Find the good. It's all around you.

Find it, showcase it, and you'll start believing in it."

Have a really great day at Little Rock Central High School.

Thank you.

Rousseau: Is anybody at this table

making a new friend at lunch today?

Yeah, I'm making a new friend.

Y'all are already friends.

Y'all, the idea is this--

you all segregate yourselves at lunch.

I know you don't segregate yourself on purpose

- because you don't like-- - We don't like sitting inside the cafeteria.

Well, but my point is,

we have such diversity here, I want you to

branch out and connect with different people in our school

because I think that's part of the beauty

of going to this historic school.

Rousseau: Central High School has the very lowest

socioeconomic children in Little Rock here,

as well as the very top,

and it tends to be black and white.

"Central High School, winner, 'Best Public School,'

'Arkansas Times.'" Frankly, we win every year

for both newspapers for "best high school,"

and it's-- it is--

it is with great pride that we accept these awards.

It's also a problem in some ways,

because the other high schools are somewhat jealous of us.

I'm Floyd Smith. I'm one of the security officers

at Central High School.

( buzzer sounds )

Smith: Most of the poorest kids--

most of them ride the busses here.

And you can see the different makeup.

It's going to be the majority, black.

A lot of these kids have seen people murdered.

They saw people get their car jacked.

They saw their friend get beat up.

I mean, some of their parents are on dope or whatnot.

Girl: Your car is so frickin' nice.

I cannot believe your grandparents got you that car.

But a big majority of the white students--

most of them are from the rich part of Little Rock.

Their parents are very well off.

This is the sophomore and junior lots down here.

And most kids when they turn 16,

they start driving because the bus takes forever and stuff.

This is my car. We're getting ready to go home.

I'm taking my little brother too.

He's a soph-- a freshman, so he doesn't get to drive yet.

He turns 16 in about a year.

Ellen: Central does have a really outstanding reputation.

Every year Central produces, like,

probably the most National Merit Scholars in Little Rock.

When the colleges are reviewing your applications

and they see that you attend Central,

it definitely stands out.

We live in an area called "The Heights."

The Heights has a reputation

for just being a safe neighborhood in a good part of town

and it's really old, traditional-style houses.

This is my house right here.

Ellen: This is my mom, Laura Doramus.

She volunteers in the office and is a part of the P.T.A.

Education is very important to my husband and me.

This is my oldest child, Mark, who graduated from Central last May

and he is now at Princeton University,

a freshman there, and really likes it.

And he has felt like he's really well-prepared for it too.

If you look at where the graduates go from Central,

it is amazing, the different schools.

There are so many that are in the Ivy League.

Last year-- they have something called "Early Action" at Yale

and three of the kids that applied to Early Action,

all three got accepted. Ellen might not like my saying all this,

but she's never made a "B" for a semester

since she's been there and taken a lot of A.P. classes,

and that's what it takes to graduate at the top of the class.

There's plenty of people there who could afford to go to private school,

but, I mean, you don't really think about that

when you go to public school or anything.

You just, you know, get along with who has good personalities

and stuff, not where they live and everything.

And of course it's about to be

the 50-year anniversary of the desegregation.

There-- there's people that could easily afford

to be in private school, but again,

they really, you know-- they--

they're looking for what the public school has to offer,

which is diversity.

50 years ago, who would have ever thought?

We are going to the Central High P.T.S.A. meeting.

And the P.T.S.A. is the Parent Teacher Student Association.

And they're usually at noon. I'm very fortunate

that I stay at home with my kids,

and so I can volunteer at school and be there.

There are lots of parents whose jobs won't permit it

and other constraints and maybe more kids at home

and that kind of thing.

And I hate that for them. I feel like studies have been done

over and over that have shown

that when parents are involved in a school,

kids are going to be more successful.

- ( laughing ) - Don't even go there.

- How are you? - Good. How are you?

The correlation between family support

and a child's academic success--

it's amazing.

Our kids mirror what their parents do.

I mean, look at our communities, look at our neighborhoods.

When was the last time that you had dinner

or spent an evening with somebody out of your social group?

Well, we are continuing

in our effort at Little Rock Central High School

to pull more of our minority students

into our upper-level classes.

You know, is it perfect? No.

But we've come a long way too.

And that's what I continue to tell people...

- all the time... - ( laughter )

...is that we're working on things here.

Doramus: I think that for a very long time

that the desegregation in 1957

was a black eye on Little Rock,

and people thought of Little Rock as being somewhat racist

when I think that that's not at all true.

But I do think that she's right, talking about

the things that you-- dinner on a Saturday night

or church on Sunday morning-- who are you with?

Probably most of us are with people that live in our neighborhood

and, you know, are a whole lot like us.

There's just always areas of improvement

that need to be made, and Ms. Rousseau knows what needs to be done.

They're just doing the best that they can to see that it is happening.

Male student: Tonight I get sworn in as student body president

here at Central. Being a black student,

it means something because of what happened here 50 years ago.

You always have to think about it.

It's something that you think about every day,

because these are the same steps that almost 50 years ago

they wouldn't let the black students in.

The National Guard had to escort everybody in--

these same steps, the very doors.

It's a big deal.

Mr. President!

At this time, I would like to ask

Mr. Brandon Love to come forward, please.

- ( applause, cheers ) - Man: Whoo, go, Brandon!

I, Brandon Love, will faithfully strive to execute

the duties of the office of President of Little Rock Central High School.

- Rousseau: Congratulations, Mr. President. - Whoo, go, Brandon!

Rousseau: We are very, very proud of our legacy

at Little Rock Central High School.

I hope by now everyone has heard

that "Newsweek" has placed us

20th in the United States.

( applause )

This distinction is based on the number of advanced placement exams

that our students take at our school.

And I want you to know that of all

the schools in the state of Arkansas,

we have the most advanced placement scholars overall

for students for their performance on these exams.

We keep getting more and more awards for our school,

more and more colleges and universities honoring our students.

So we're very proud.

Teacher: Uh, homework!

Because I don't need you to forget this by the time

you come to me next time, 'cause we've got to move on.

Wipe off my whiteboards, please.

Put my erasers up.

And you all have a good weekend.

( buzzer sounds )

Jackson: Where are we as a school?

If you asked a white teacher that, I would bet you

nine out of 10 times that they're gonna say,

"Oh, Central is just-- we're just everything.

Everything is wonderful here.

All of our kids are learning, and all the kids," you know.

And they have no reality.

If you're living in an A.P. world,

or advanced placement world,

you are out of reality

when it comes to

students in this school.

- Woman: Tell Mama bye. - Girl: Bye, Mama!

Mama needs you to get in the car.

Bye.

Bye.

( engine starts )

Every morning my mom takes the kids to school.

I get them ready every morning, but she's always the one

that has to drive them to school,

since I don't have a license yet.

These are all my trophies.

Before I had kids,

I was just continually on the road.

I played for a softball team

and we went everywhere.

And that's why I got all these trophies.

We used to always win.

And...

once I had kids, of course,

I couldn't travel

and I couldn't be gone for long periods of time,

and so the trophies just stopped coming.

This is my sister Tina.

She has a son also, a four-year-old.

I went to school every day pregnant,

walking up and down Central's steps in the 11th grade.

You see a lot of single parents,

especially at Central. A lot of people got kids up there.

I know it's going to be tough trying to go to college

and better myself.

And it's going to be double on her 'cause she's got two

and I only got one. ( laughs )

- It's going to be double. - Yep.

I usually leave the TV on so people think there's somebody here,

so they don't be trying to break in, 'cause...

( groans ) a bunch of crackheads around here.

Maya: I live close to Central.

We live by this cafe that should be knocked down, but they won't.

And there's always crackheads coming in and out of there.

And that's why we don't really be outside or nothing.

Stay in the house, away from everything

and everybody.

You just gotta watch yourself a lot.

I'm running a little late for school this morning.

It happens a lot. ( sighs )

Teacher: Sit down, please.

Sit down where you belong!

Am I going to have to send you out?

Omar, get your book and sit down.

And put that comb away or it's mine.

This is called the Scholastic Read 180 Program

for struggling readers.

These kids are very often behavioral problems

partly because they know they should be doing better.

They feel badly about themselves,

and so rather than admit, "I don't know how to do this,"

they want attention. They'll cause problems.

But this was the population in the school that really needs extra help.

Come on, guys, let's move it. Shh. Just go.

Hilary, come and sit down, please.

Omar, get at the computer.

Guys, don't make me have to repeat this.

Let's go, please. You know what you have to do.

Hilary, come to the table.

Let's review. Do you have your notebooks? Where are your pencils?

- I don't know. - Pens-- you've got to have your notes.

Bring your notes. Get them quickly.

- I don't got no notes for these. - Bring them,

or get a sheet of paper and do them now if you don't have them.

- You got some paper? - Yes, I have some paper,

but, guys, this is your responsibility.

Let's go. Hurry up.

Tremaine?

Thank you.

Come sit down with us, please.

We're gonna do Act III, scene 5.

But let's talk about the dramatic irony

and paraphrasing on 162 first.

In "Romeo and Juliet," the irony of the-- the play

is that the audience

knows things-- we know things

that the characters in the play don't know.

That makes for dramatic irony. What is "irony"?

- Boy: That's a word? - Irony?

- Yeah, what is it? - Uh...

What is "ironic"?

Boy: Uh, no clue.

Brooks: Okay, "paraphrasing." What is paraphrasing?

- ( kids overlapping ) - If you paraphrase something...

It means restating things in your own words.

This is a reading skill that we really have to build up.

- ( buzzer sounding ) - Okay?

Gonna have to finish another day, guys.

We ran out of a little bit of time. We'll finish tomorrow.

Yes, we will.

Keelan, behave the rest of the day. Don't get yourself in trouble.

Brooks: It's the young black males

that we're having the biggest problems with.

They're interested in other things besides reading.

So it bothers me that this class is a lot male

and almost all African-American.

But that's the elephant in the room. You can't ignore it.

Male teacher: I wanted to focus today

on concluding the war and then also talking about

Vietnam after the fact.

Remember the term "Vietnamization of the war" meant this--

Nixon's policy of trying to turn the war back over

to the South Vietnamese forces

and to extricate U.S. forces from the region.

Central's racial breakdown is probably 60%--

or approaching 60% African-American

and it doesn't come anywhere close to that in my classes.

My three African-American young women sit

boom, boom, and boom, right there, next to one another.

They feel like they kind of need to be together.

But, you know, they're by far the minorities

in a school in which they're not the minorities.

Brandon: Here, look, you could just use this.

I just talked about how, like, there's an imaginary line.

Like A.P. is like this imaginary line

that divides black and white

in schools.

Brandon: I just wrote us a new opening,

so I just wanted to make sure it was all right.

Male faculty member: Go ahead, read it.

"While schools have been desegregated, they have not been integrated.

Imagine in today's public schools, an imaginary line called 'Advanced Placement'

that serves as not only a divide in educational promises,

but also a wedge between races.

In many cases, this has also become a racial boundary

accepted by many and challenged by few."

- Woman: Powerful. - Yeah.

- Brandon: And that's it. - Yeah.

Brandon: Central is still pretty segregated.

It's just that we don't have to have the National Guard here

to get into school and to go to school.

At Central, I take A.P. classes.

"Advanced Placement" is what A.P. stands for.

I'm the only black person in my class.

It's like two schools in one, really.

Like, 50 years ago

the area around Central used to be just all white.

Like these used to be just the premier houses

around Little Rock.

And pretty much the Central High neighborhood was all white.

But, I mean, times change.

The area around Central's become all black.

This is a prime example of segregated things in Little Rock.

You don't see any white kids at this Boys' Club.

All you see are black kids.

You don't even see, like, white people around.

You see boarded windows here,

I mean, just places where you don't think people live at all.

It kind of bothers me that black kids come to school

and we just come to kind of chill,

whereas the white kids come to get an education, you know, they go on.

They do bigger things in life.

I believe that's true

because black people, I mean--

They just want to play sports.

Yeah, I mean, all they want to do

is go to school,

hang out,

play sports.

I mean, that's basically it.

We could be doing so much better, you know?

If it's been over 50 years

and we're still in the same position that we are

50 years when they started,

I mean, it didn't ever change.

Why do you think that, statistically,

African-Americans at this school

perform so much lower, grade levels--

three or four grade levels lower than Caucasians do?

Okay, Caucasian people, most of Caucasian--

most of their parents, they either went to college,

you know, graduated from good colleges,

and a lot of African-American parents haven't went to college.

'Cause I know my parents, they haven't went to college. They didn't go to college.

And then it's like African-Americans,

they have more responsibilities than Caucasians--

like, you know, a lot of girls pregnant,

maybe your parents on drugs or--

- And you think that's more African-Americans? - Exactly.

It's up on the kids sometimes

to, you know, watch out for your little brother

or cook for your sister because your mom's still at work

'cause she's gotta work two jobs because your dad's not there.

Or something like that. It's more like that on us.

Raise your hand for me if...

you know someone in your family,

if you've had one of them go to jail.

( kids laugh )

How many of your friends

have been killed?

My uncle. It was gang-related.

He got shot from his bathroom all the way to the front yard.

And my other uncle was also killed.

- Ellender: So you've had two. - In front of the grocery store.

- Two uncles who were killed. - Mm-hmm.

For drugs?

And his cousin shot him.

- It was gang-related. - Ellender: Mm-hmm.

I had a brother to get--

it was in the middle of a drug deal.

And, um, he was tied,

beaten, and burned to death.

Oh, my God.

Oh, my God. Jessica.

My friend that graduated from here last year this summer,

she was murdered in Southwest.

Um, she was stabbed multiple times

and he threw her in a dumpster.

Our majority-- the majority of black people

grew up in poverty.

And white people, they don't understand that.

Ellender: Why do you think more black people

than white people grow up in poverty?

I said 'cause we were slaves, and he said

if white folks would have never brought us over here--

Ellender: You feel like it's white people's fault

- that black people--? - No.

I mean, yeah, initially it is your fault.

Not every black person came over here because they were slaves.

- Girl: That's how it started. - Tons of people immigrated and stuff.

I don't see how he can speak on something

he ain't never had to really deal with.

It's not in him. It's in us. It's instilled in us.

We have to do good because of everything that happened in our past.

You've got it all fed on a silver spoon since you've been born.

You don't have to do nothing. We've got to work for everything.

Everything we have to work for, you got it handed to you.

When you were born, they said, "Oh, he's gonna be the president.

Oh, he's gonna do this." We've gotta work for it.

We can't even be doctors or lawyers or whatever.

We've gotta work for ours. You ain't gotta do for nothing.

Especially black boys-- you're a male, you're black,

you're just bound to mess up.

I believe it. Because they build more jails than they do schools.

I believe black people, if we just really sat down

and looked at everything that we got and what we can do,

I-- we-- ( groans )

it'd be so different, so different.

- ( buzzer sounding ) - ( chattering )

Little Rock police are investigating

two more murders in the capital city.

These are the 30th and 31st homicides in the city this year.

Benny Johnson: On a record-setting pace.

These crosses here, they represent

each time a homicide happens here in Little Rock, Arkansas,

to bring awareness to black-on-black crime.

We talk about 50 years ago,

what happened at Central High School was historical.

But the tragic of it is the same neighborhood

where the federal troops came out,

same neighborhood where nine young kids

struggled just for an education,

has just been turned into a war zone-- black-on-black crime.

No longer is it about racism.

People want to use that like an excuse

and say, "Well, racism is the cause of this,"

but we've got to become keepers of our own gate.

We as black people need to quit making excuses,

talking about, "The white man got us down."

Now, the white man don't got us down.

The white man does not hold no gun up to our heads

and make us sell and poison our community.

So we can quit that myth.

Since 1992, over 600 blacks have been killed by blacks.

We the biggest racists against each other

and we need to quit that nonsense. That's all it is.

If these nine kids put their lives on the line

for us to have an opportunity to go into the school

and hav-- quality education,

and now we're looking at a great number of dropouts.

- Right. - I tell people all the time,

- Martin King's dream has become a nightmare. - Mm-hmm.

Williams: The city is ready to celebrate Central High School,

but I'm wondering are they really ready to celebrate

clearing up our streets, stopping the black-on-black crime?

And it's critical. It's critical.

When we come back here for a celebration in September,

they certainly won't want the world to see

that kind of structure, that kind of vacant,

unsafe, hazardous structure

this close to a national monument.

Boarded structures, vacant lots--

and it's almost like somebody dropped a bomb

and tore up the community.

Most often we want to celebrate how far we've come

and we don't want to look at some of these

ugly reminders of how far we have to go.

Woman: ♪ O'er the land ♪

♪ Of the free... ♪

♪ And the home ♪

♪ Of the... ♪

♪ Brave. ♪

( applause )

Thank you very much and welcome--

welcome on this wonderful day.

The importance of Dr. Martin Luther King,

particularly to this city, is certainly something

that is particularly underscored in this year 2007,

as we are on the eve of celebrating

the desegregation of Central High School,

which will be coming up later on in this year.

I think Dr. Martin Luther King would be particularly disappointed

in looking around the neighborhoods

around Central High School and our mid-cities

and looking at what we have not accomplished yet

in terms of a community. And as your mayor,

I hope that I can contribute in some way

to trying to rid ourselves of those elements of segregation.

Richardson: You're looking at the portrait

of Governor Faubus. He was a key figure

in the integration crisis of Central High.

He, of course, sent out the Arkansas National Guard

under the pretenses of protecting the students.

The real reason they were there

was to prevent those young folks from going to the school.

And it was done right here.

Who would have thought, who would believe

that 50 years ago, those very nine kids

who were prevented from going to Central--

in this building? I mean, this was ground zero

for them trying to stop that.

50 years later, you will have as a lasting monument

statues of those very nine kids

out on the other side of the Capitol.

And when you look at those films

or you see it on TV, you're kind of far removed,

'cause you're looking at something visually.

It's through a TV screen, through a lens.

But once you get up close,

and it's almost like you can touch them and feel them,

then you look and say, "These were just kids--

16, 17-year-old kids

who wanted nothing else but equal access

to education, equal opportunity,

something that all Americans are supposed to have."

And this touches me every time I come out here,

'cause I just think that...

I often wonder if I was a teenager back then,

would I have had the courage that these folks had?

I just think it's a symbol of how far we've come,

but I think in many cases

it's also a stark reminder

of how far we have to go.

Especially when you visit those schools.

You go back and look at Central, you visit the classrooms,

you visit the cafeteria, you look at the achievements,

you look at the reading levels.

We still have a long way to go.

White people are so racist at this school,

do you know how many? They are worse than me.

- Student: I don't know 'em. - They are worse than me.

- I don't know 'em. - I'm sorry, I'ma admit it.

I'ma admit it. I'm a little bit racist. I'ma admit it now.

- I'm going to admit it now. I'm sorry. - ( all exclaiming )

- ( applause, laughing ) - Student: Take that off the camera, man!

- Student: Shh! - But everything is not to keep the black man down.

Everything is not to make the black man look bad.

Everything is not to make the black man look poor and raggedy.

Yes, they are. Yes, they are.

- "Everything is against him, the black man." - They are!

- Everything is not against the black man. - Everything is against us.

Mahomes: I'm at this point that

I do believe that Central is two schools.

I believe it's a black school and it's a white school

in the same building. I do.

There's some talk now among black leaders

that before integration

that black students actually did better--

that black schools produced black males

who became scientists,

and black schools produced students who could read.

'Cause back in the '50s black people had something to prove

'cause they-- you know, they weren't still getting the respect

- that we kind of have today. - Right.

And a lot of young people don't see that today.

And so they're like, "Oh, I'm in school."

- "So what?" - There you go.

You don't think that black students are competing now?

- No. No. - Some parents don't even care no more.

It's just, "If you don't do it, oh, well."

Not everybody has what it takes to be a true parent.

Some people just-- I would think then

some people just need to probably give them away,

get 'em adopted so a better parent can take care of them.

Mahomes: But we're talking about black youth now.

You guys are telling me that so many African-American parents

are just not good parents?

- Yeah. - Mahomes: Oh, baby, please.

- You know what I'm saying? Yeah, still. - Girl: That's true.

Just 'cause you got kids doesn't mean you can be

- a good daddy or something. - Yeah.

You just got that kid, you give her money and stuff,

that ain't gonna do nothing.

Me and my daddy, we have the understanding--

he ain't seen no report card since ninth grade.

But I ain't in the ninth grade no more,

so he knows I'm getting my stuff done.

And that's how he'll tell me. He was like,

"I ain't gonna worry about your report card,

'cause you're in the 12th grade now.

Last one I seen, you was in ninth grade,

- so I know you're handling your business." - Shawn, you know I know

that you could do better.

- Come on, baby. - Shawn: Yep.

Okay, then. That's all I wanted you to say.

- Lekeisha? - Every time I bring my report card home to my mother,

she is-- usually, I always have an "F"

'cause I'm not good in math.

So I used to have an "F" in math,

but she knows that I-- she always seemed not that disappointed in the "F."

You cannot accept that you don't know how to do it anymore.

- You're gonna have to do better. - ( kids chuckle )

You're gonna have to try another strategy.

If the one that you're using doesn't work,

you're gonna have to try something else.

- Um, okay-- - ( buzzer sounds )

- Bye, Miss Mahomes. - Mahomes: Bye.

Y'all be good, baby.

( students chat )

I feel that it's a crisis.

I tell my students that,

but I don't really believe that they understand

that if something doesn't happen...

so that they can pass the same test,

then down the road

they're not gonna be able to get the same job,

they're not going to be able to make enough money to support their family.

No.

We should be-- the gap should be closing,

but it doesn't appear that it is.

My name's Antron Pearson.

I go to Central High. I'm on my way

to Coach Richardson's classroom

to tell him about the incident back at home.

I got kicked out of the house,

so I'm going up to his room and talk to him about it,

tell him what's going on.

Keith Richardson: I'm hoping she's just not kicking you out on the street,

saying it don't make no difference where you go or what you do.

- That's what she's saying. - I'm hoping and praying that's not the case.

She bust in the house and said, "Antron, you gonna have to

get the eff out of my house right now. I don't want you here."

So that's what happened.

To put you out and say, "Go fend for yourself,"

it's just not fair, 'cause it's tough.

- Yes, sir. - But you're a boxer, you know what tough means.

- Yes, sir. - So we're gonna have to dig down, man.

We have to get you stable so you can get back on track

- with your academics. - Yes, sir.

'Cause regardless of whatever happens with your boxing, man,

you have to have your education. All right?

Here at Central, there are a lot of kids

that have situations similar to that of Antron--

there's a lot of kids facing a lot of things

that children shouldn't have to face

that won't allow them to focus on anybody's education.

"Where am I going to lay my head?

How am I going to eat?"

That is no position for any child to be in.

Right now I'm staying with my sister

'cause I had an issue with my mom back home.

So this is where I'm at.

Well, my dream in life is to be a professional boxer.

I know my little brother Rico,

he'll be out there with his friends,

and I know they're not doing nothing positive with theyselves.

You know, if you got skills like he does with boxing,

you can take it far, you know?

Because you're good.

You're really good at it. You're just still amateur

and you can't turn pro until you...

- Yeah. - ...get a certain age or whatever.

Tonight I got a rematch with a guy I fought

a couple of weeks ago.

I'm gonna try to knock him out in the first round.

And people are gonna be like, "He going somewhere."

Yeah, I am going somewhere.

When I get pro, what I'm gonna do,

I'm gonna buy me a house,

give my family a better life to live.

I just want-- I don't want them to work,

I want to do it, you know what I'm saying?

Take care of my little sisters,

and I'm gonna be the one that do it for them.

- Woman: Good job! Yay! - ( bell rings )

( crowd shouting )

Hands up, baby.

( cheering )

Stop! Stop!

- ( cheering ) - ( bell rings )

Ellender: Your problem is not going to class.

If you don't go to class, you can't do well.

So this is your interim for this whole nine weeks.

You can't miss one more day.

Not one more day.

Because if you miss 10 days in a semester,

then we have to report you

and then you could fail the class...

- All right. - ...just for not being there.

Unexcused absences-- 10 or more and you're done.

You and I have had this talk before,

and it scares me to death.

What if you get knocked out and you're 24?

24-- I don't think about stuff like that.

I don't think about, "I'm getting knocked out."

But eventually you won't be able to box anymore.

- Have a plan B after-- - To fall back on.

That's exactly it.

- All right. Well, I'll see ya. - Antron: Okay.

- Ellender: Bye. - Antron: Bye.

Ellender: Antron, he can't read.

He may read on a third-grade level.

He's got a low "F" in Spanish 1.

He's got a 16-- low "F" in Biology 1.

He's got a 57, "F" in Drama.

He has a zero in World History, "F."

Too many absences to pass the class at all,

so he doesn't even have a shot at getting--

at being able to pass these classes,

which means it's a waste of a year,

a waste of a semester. He'll have to retake all these classes,

which means he'll be a freshman,

a ninth-grader again next year,

and will be 18 years old.

He is banking on boxing,

and this is just one of those kids that--

it's scary because he's got people trying to help him

and he's not-- he's not doing what it takes to even go to class.

And so it's really-- it's depressing

and-- and frustrating.

Depressing and frustrating.

And so those are the students that I teach.

Most of them are black.

And then, so I'm the golf coach.

Hee! Complete opposite.

I've had one girl-- one black girl try out.

And all the rest of them-- 22-- are white.

- Ellender: Fore. Come on. - Fore. Fore! Fore!

Ellender: Wayne, your turn.

Let's see how close you can get to theirs.

There's a huge gap between...

the success level of standardized testing scores

with African-Americans and white people.

And George Bush has done a lot to try to close that gap,

but it's still-- I mean, it's just huge.

And the students will tell you--

the African-American students will tell you, "It's because we're lazy."

And when they graduate from high school,

they graduate three or four grade levels below

where the white kid graduates with.

Yeah, I think we live in a different world

than black students. When they're in high school,

they see their friends making a lot of money

selling drugs or whatever. But we're like--

where we are, we see older parents making money, having a family.

I think our parents try to put that in our heads a little more.

They see an easy way out and they're just gonna go for it.

And they don't care about school.

If they get suspended, it's just three more days they can go do something else.

Ellender: The kids that I have on the golf team--

three of their dads are doctors,

two of them are CEOs

of huge investing firms,

and, honestly, I can't think of a mom that works.

They send their kids to this school

because Central is so well-known

and Central gets so many academic opportunities

and money thrown. So these kids come for the academics

and the reputation of the school

and what that can do for them.

And the lower-income kids are there

because they're in the district and that's where the bus takes them.

Black kids will just stereotype you.

They'll be like, "You have everything," when you really don't.

You also have problems, but black people just don't realize it.

A lot of the white kids, they're the A.P. students.

They're expected to make really good grades,

and their parents are so successful.

It's not-- it's not

a hope or a wish that they go to college,

it's just how good the college is gonna be.

And my black kids, a lot of times they're proud

to be the first one in their families to graduate from high school.

That's-- a lot of the pressure with the white kids is,

"You've gotta be perfect in school."

The black kids' parents, they don't really put that in you

to where you can just do whatever you want, really.

( silverware clinking )

Central's pretty different for me.

I guess I'm not really like everybody else.

These are my neighbors.

A lot of people come over here, like,

"Why do you got white kids on your mirror?"

But I love these two. They live next door--

Alex and Laura.

I've pretty much always lived in white neighborhoods.

I carpool to school with white kids.

If we pass any bus stops, you'll see there aren't really any black kids.

They're all white kids-- if they ride the bus.

For the most part, they drive.

I really want to go to a good college.

This is, like, my "Elite Eight," I guess.

That's what I called it. Duke, Southern Cal,

Miami, North Carolina,

UCLA, Vanderbilt, Texas, and Ohio State.

Basically, living in this neighborhood,

everybody being smart, you kind of want to fit in.

My one-house-over neighbor Tyler

is a real smart dude,

and I kind of just took after Tyler.

He does-- I mean, Tyler does it big,

so I try to do whatever Tyler does

because I see him making it--

kind of like a role model.

I've got a bunch of inspirational posters in my room,

just because when I was younger, somebody told me that

surrounding yourself with inspirational stuff

makes you more apt to succeed at it.

This is my car.

I just got it not too long ago--

'06 Altima Special Edition.

This is my neighborhood.

Racially speaking, this is like an all-white neighborhood.

Living in this neighborhood is causing me

to be able to cross a lot of boundaries.

Growing up out here, when you're little,

race isn't a factor. You don't really care,

you just play with the kids up the street.

( horn honks )

That's my boy, Mike Holliman.

That's my boy Andrew, Andrew Terry.

We ride to school together.

Throw one of them discs in, Terry.

- ( hip-hop music playing ) - Uh-oh. You know how we got to do it.

( snapping fingers )

Brandon: This is the senior/teacher lot.

The students that do have money and drive to school,

this is more where they park.

( car alarm beeps )

( P.A. system beeps )

Good morning, Central High School.

Will you please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance?

All: I pledge allegiance to the flag

of the United States of America

and to the Republic for which it stands,

one nation under God,

indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

50 years ago,

I guess I definitely wouldn't have been leading the pledge.

But... I don't know.

Now the school's a little bit different...

for the most part. Right now we're on our way

to A.P. English for this all-white class,

except me, I guess.

Man: The thing about Wordsworth and Coleridge

was the love of walking, right?

And when they would get together, lots of times

that's what they would spend their afternoons doing,

is walking around in beautiful areas

and talking about life and discussing

how they were going to change the world.

Give me two lines. All right, Maya.

Kim, can you throw me the ball?

- Woman: Back. - Man: Good throw.

All right, Whit.

Maya: Mommy!

- Hey. - Whoo. We made it back.

This is my mom,

and this is my son Cantrell,

and this is my daughter Carrie.

I'm in the 10th grade. When I had my first daughter,

I was... 13.

And when I had my son, I was 15.

Grades fell down.

People said that I might drop out.

My mom wasn't, like, angry.

She was more disappointed that I didn't wait

and that I decided to have sex at an early age.

With the first one, it was like,

"Okay, we made a mistake. Let's get back on track."

But then the second one, it was like, "Oh, can we ever get back on track?"

That was a lot harder.

Come here. You're gonna fall.

Her grades are struggling right now, but she's trying to get back.

It's not easy,

'cause right now, Maya just turned 16,

so she is not licensed to drive.

So I have to take them to the daycare

and pick 'em up. And so that's kind of hard--

struggling to stay at work,

not take off a lot of time.

Okay, Maya's gonna bat now. You ready?

You got this, Maya! Wait on it.

( shouting, cheering )

Teammate: Good job!

Good job.

Maya: My mom helps me out a lot,

a great deal

all the time.

- ( daughter yelps ) - My baby's father's name

is Antwan Harris.

He's still in school.

He tries to do what he can.

( grunting )

- Mom: Bye. - I love you.

( baby cries )

- Okay, come on, you guys. - Okay, that's my part.

Maya: Antwan, come get your daughter real quick.

I gotta do my song.

- I know. - ( crying )

Hello, darlin'.

You got me your lunch pass, in there, right?

- You want the phone? - ( pop song playing )

You're the singer.

I don't know all the words.

All: ♪ Stacy, can I come over ♪

♪ After schoo- ooh-ooh-ool? ♪

- ( giggling ) - ♪ After school... ♪

♪ Ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh ♪

♪ In my school... ♪ ( laughing )

We just basically plan on getting married one day.

( laughs )

I-- I'm assuming you think different.

Maya: I really want to get out, get us our own place,

and I want to become something.

I'm not quite sure which one I want to become,

but it's between a designer,

- a beautician, a teacher... - ( child shouts )

...or some type of drama.

I want to be an actress.

I want to be a choreographer,

show people how to dance in the videos.

Having two kids

and not already accomplishing what we need to do,

I think it will be quite a challenge.

Having to put all our dreams and stuff on hold--

whew-- I don't know, it's just difficult.

Rousseau: Where are we headed, sweetheart,

without an agenda book? Where are you going, babe?

- To choir. - To choir?

They asked if I'd run some errands.

- To the what? - The choir.

Okay, but where have you been?

Had to run an errand for my teacher.

Okay, let's get to class right away for me, please.

It is our goal at this school

to have all students on grade level

with literacy and math.

And frankly, that's not the case.

We get some of these students in the ninth grade

who come to us and they have

reading levels in the third and fourth grade.

How in the world can a student

go into a civics class in the ninth grade

and be successful

if he or she reads on a third-grade level?

Tough. Very frustrating.

- Rousseau: May we come in? Thank you. - Uh-huh.

- Is this an A.P. class? - Yes.

- Is this an A.P. class? - Male student: Yes.

Rousseau: This is an advanced placement class.

The majority of the advanced placement classes

are not African-American.

People who want to look at a negative side

will always say about Central High School,

"Oh, Central High School-- they were integrated in 1957

and the school is still segregated.

It's segregated academically."

You know, the problem with that is

that the students who sign up to be in the class

have to be willing to step up to the plate

and it's difficult to recruit

minorities into these classes.

Why are you in here?

I think I'm different

because I come from an underprivileged background

and I don't want to be that way after I graduate.

And I know if I don't try, I won't have money to go to college

and I will stay here in Little Rock and I'll be here forever.

And I'll be one of those people that are sitting on the street.

I am who I am-- underprivileged.

I am the normal African-American student

and I want to leave.

I might not have an "A" in this class,

but I know I'm putting my heart into it.

And I know I'm passing and I'm doing good. ( sniffles )

These kids-- you know,

some of them don't understand or realize

what the opportunities are here

and so they kind of blow it off.

And other kids do,

but they may not have the skills.

And that's the total frustration for us--

is to get them those skills so that they can--

so that they can be successful.

Other students in this class, you don't realize how much you have.

Some of you have so much support behind you.

There are kids in this school who's never had anybody read them a book,

who don't have a dictionary in their home.

Can you imagine? I mean, how do you--

how do you overcome some obstacles,

academically, to be successful

when you don't have the advocacy?

Most African-American students don't want to try.

They think that just because "Oh, there are so many white kids" in their class,

that "because I'm black, I'm not gonna be able to do well,

not be able to try hard enough, to do this or do that."

And so most people stay where they're comfortable.

They stay in regular classes because they know

that's where they're successful.

And I think it's more you have to want to try

at least one time, to see just how good you are,

and most of our African-American peers don't want to.

They want to stay where they're comfortable.

When I meet students who maybe--

who don't come from the background

that some of you come from

and I see them struggling to make it,

on the one hand, I'm so proud of them,

and on the other hand, I'm totally frustrated

because I want to fix it. And it's not something

that I or Miss Colburn

or all your teachers--

you know, we can't all fix it. It's hard.

It's a very, very controversial,

political situation.

It really takes all of us.

It takes the family, it takes the community,

it takes the school, it takes the child.

And that's how we get there.

Rousseau: You can tell how emotional this issue is for me

and how hard it is.

You know, that young lady who spoke there--

I've had my eye on her for two years.

Somehow, in all that she's been through in her life,

she shines, she stands out.

And if I could,

I would try to find in these 2,400 kids

every child like her,

to try to pull her up, to pull them up.

There is a special feeling at Central High School

unlike other high schools around the country.

September 25th, 2007, we are going to have

the 50th Integration Anniversary Commemoration

out in front of Central High School.

The President of the United States will be coming

along with former President Clinton

and all the other dignitaries,

and the class that will be out there is your class.

( cheering )

So you are very special.

And I want you to believe that,

but I want you to believe it in a very positive way

and partner with me to make sure that all of you are on the right track

to be successful and to graduate.

We have seniors every year

who don't graduate.

It's awful, terrible.

It's very important to us

that we send you off with all the skills

that you're going to need to be successful.

That's my hope for you.

My name is Angelica and I am

one of the few African-American females

that takes mostly advanced placement classes.

Teacher: It was a different time period.

And it was a much more violent time period.

- And in Rome, remember... - It's violent today.

- ...when Caesar came to power, Caesar said... - ( chuckles )

- You just see a side now. - ..."The republic is already dead."

I mean, they had already had civil war.

You had civil war between Caesar and Pompey.

You had civil war before that. I mean, they had one...

- One civil war after another. - ...civil war after another.

Teacher: And they had people after people after people

fighting for power...

( radio chatter )

( students chattering )

( bus engine idling )

( bus drives off )

Not enough people are recognizing

that we are trying,

because if you take an A.P. class

and you are a black student,

you're more likely to fail your first time around.

But I feel like sometimes

we're not being recognized for trying.

I don't know, maybe that's why

a lot of people don't even try,

but this is something-- I know there's more out there

and I know I can do better than this.

This is where I live.

It almost looks like we don't live here anymore.

It is incredibly small.

I used to call it our "half a house."

Our stove doesn't work.

The sink doesn't work. And when we told our landlord that,

he was like, "I'll fix it," but some things just never get done.

So we have the buckets. This is our bucket system.

Every time you have to wash dishes, you have to put

a whole new thing of water in there.

That's kind of our storage.

I guess that's where the heater and the air conditioner

are supposed to be.

This is the room me and my brother share together.

This is his side of the room and this is my side.

We share a closet.

This is my brother Carlos.

He is 14, goes to Horace Mann.

We are as different as night and day.

I actually love to be in school, whereas he never has.

My mama, I know she had me and my brother when she was young,

but she's not like this person who is always out.

She hasn't brought, like-- I know a lot of people my age--

their mama will bring different men around all the time.

My mama's just the opposite of the people around here.

I look at my son--

sometimes they don't particularly like school,

so we have to, as parents and teachers and counselors,

kind of encourage them, especially when we're talking about

what it's going to mean for them in the future. We need to encourage them more.

You know, the critique of how Central is two schools

is completely unfair.

Advanced placement to me is not about background or income.

It's what you have and what you put forth.

There are students that will take advantage

of everything that's there good for them and there are those who won't.

It's all about that student

and what they're willing to take advantage of.

This is my poster about myself.

This poster sums up my thoughts

of Little Rock Central High School completely.

I'm striving to be more than what I am now.

And that's kind of what success is.

I'm on my way to being that person

that I can be.

And I think that's really what this is all about.

Central is where things happen.

If you want anything to really, really happen,

Central is where you go.

( people shouting, whistling )

The minute they walk in, we walk out.

Mm-hmm.

It's not right. They have schools just as good as ours.

- They don't have to go to ours. - It would be different if we had a choice,

but we don't have a choice like they do.

See, they can go to ours or they can go to their own,

- but we have to go to white schools. - White children

have rights too. Negroes aren't the only ones that have a right.

Man: Elizabeth Eckford,

age 15, 11th grade.

Ernest Green,

age 16, 12th grade.

Minnie Brown,

age 16, 11th grade.

I see it like this--

we are allowed to participate in anything with the exception,

as wars or anything that--

um, would you cut that out?

Minnijean Brown: Everybody wants to say we're courageous

and we're just extraordinary,

but, no, we're giggling

just like teenagers would

and sort of having fun.

( people shouting )

Brown: But women

in gloves and hats-- white women,

were screaming obscenities

and death threats at me,

and I was 15 years old.

That stuff is powerful.

It actually persuaded the governor,

who had the power,

to use the Arkansas National Guard

to stop nine kids from going in the school.

I don't think

anybody gets the idea

of what that was like.

I'll tell you one thing before we start--

God, this room disturbs the hell out of me, okay?

( students chuckle )

Come here, one person at a time,

and look at this room. My God.

Check this room out, people.

- ( students chatter ) - Take a look at this room.

No, I'm talking about take a look at the room

and tell me what I'm disturbed about.

This must have been one of your classrooms.

No. ( chuckles )

Just keep looking.

- Just-- - Um...

Student: Oh, okay, I see it.

You see it? What?

Okay, Caucasians on this side, blacks on this side.

- Brown: Come look. - Girl: But it's always like that.

Brown: Oh, so it's normal because "it's always like that"?

It's always been like that

from the Founding Fathers to 2006?

We're not gonna change anything?

It's gonna stay like this forever?

Oh, my God.

And that's what people say about Central, okay?

They say it's segregated.

- It's just the way that it is. - "Way that it is"?

It's just the people that you feel comfortable with.

It doesn't matter if they're white, black.

It's just who you, your personality--

who you feel that you're comfortable with.

Any answers over here, on the white side?

If I'm the only one that changes

and nobody else changes in the whole school

and I'm the only one that walks into the cafeteria,

it's not gonna be a difference. It's just gonna be me.

Excuse me, are you sick?

( tapping )

I'm talking. Sit up.

There's a whole thing that is called

institutional racism,

so you're not really deciding very much,

which I'm sorry to say.

We are sitting here,

maintaining ideology, process and practice

that started with the inception of our country.

So imagine--

just for the heck of it,

imagine what it feels like,

a veteran of the Civil Rights movement--

to sit here

and watch this class configure itself.

If you look at, for instance, Little Rock today,

we still line up on two sides of color.

And if we keep on saying

and talking about and doing

the same things that we've been doing forever,

we're going to stay the same,

and I'm really sorry for us.

I'm Minnijean Brown.

I'm thankful for the many people

who have stood by us and worked diligently

in our struggle for a perfect democracy.

And my prayers go out for those people

who have suffered because of our ideals.

Park ranger: We're standing on the grounds of Central High School.

On November 6th, 1998,

President Bill Clinton signed an act

designating it a National Historic Site.

It's the only functioning high school

within the National Park Service.

So it's very unique.

These nine black students

were the very first black students

to ever go to Central High School.

And they became known through the media

as "The Little Rock Nine"

and that name has stuck ever since.

My mother is Minnijean Brown Trickey,

who was one of the Little Rock Nine.

She's the one student who did not make it

through the school year because she was expelled

for verbal retaliation. You know, oftentimes

when you see those black-and-white pictures

and you hear the word "history," you think of it

as kind of detached from you.

But this is your history,

this is my history, this is all of our history.

It's very important American history,

and that's why this is a National Historic Site.