"Racism/Incident at Little Rock".) I lived the first 19 years of
my life before the civil rights laws were passed, and I vividly
remember the incident pictured above from my childhood. It
occurred when the government tried to enforce the Brown vs.Board
of Education decision of the Supreme Court (which unanimously
held that separate schools were "inherently unequal") at Central
High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Nine exceptionally brave
young African-Americans tried to enroll at the high school, but
were turned back by a rabid crowd of white monsters and a racist
governor. President Eisenhower finally had to send in the 101st
Airborne troops to get the students enrolled and to protect
them. I, and many others, had hoped the United States had
progressed in the 55 years since the Little Rock incident. After
all, we have had a series of civil rights laws passed,
affirmative action has integrated African-Americans into our
society a bit more, and we have even elected an African-American
as president. Some even