Arkansas State press., 1957-09-20
Guards Still Surround CeI1tr'I
School to Keep Negroes Out
purely personal.
No Medal for
Helping Negro
Girl Student
by J. :. Belliveau In the Toron-
to tCanada) DAILY STAR.

70 N1auauAf 0fAALA oAfAAs
Mrs. Grace Lorch will not be
called to the capitol of the coun-
try to have the president of the
U. S. pin the medal of honor
to her dress There will be no
bands playing her up the steps
of her Little Rock, Ark. home.
Instead, there will but louis to-
shout eowardly epithets at her
and neighbors to shun her.
Niger lover" they said when
she went to comfort lonely Eli
zabeth Eckford, Is. who was barr
ed from the all-white Central
high school by troopers. and jeer-
ed at by a stupid mob.
There will be no medals be-
cause our system Of values 80
rarely take account of those SIM
pie people who are really the
great heroes of their time. What
she did in the face of bowling,
ignorant and meanminded. mob
might in other circumstances
seem common place. In its own
context it was greatness.
And for sheer human courage.
what has a better claim to honor
than these 15-year old Negro
girls and boys who faced physi.
cal violence and a states armed
troops to uphold a principle7 In
deed. to uphold the law Of thei
country which ruled they eoul
and should attend schools c
their choice.
Little Rock, Ark. and Chariot
N. c. are a long way from TIC
ronto but neither the vileness o
rested prejudice nor the grea
ness of individual heroisn is
thing easily isolated. 1t seems t
me that what was done by Grac'
Torch, the white woman, and ths
Negro youngsters who were barr
ed and spat upon in their efforts
to go to school, Is a far bigger
thing than the incidents of the
headlines.
After Terrence Roberts had
been bounded from the Little
Rock school grounds by loutish
bowls of go away Niger, we
don't want you" he admitted he
had been scared. And he also
said: II think the students would
like me skay once I get in and
they get to know me-" The truth
is they don't deserve to know
this boy who Is a man; they don't
deserve that homer.
To Elizabeth Eckford they
shouted: Keep cat Of our school
Niger" She was jostled and
pushed until Mrs. Lorch took her
across the street while high
school boys tried to stop them
from boarding a bus.
I'm taking her home, MRS.
Torch said as they hurled insults
at her as rewards for her chari-
ty. and decency. you can see
she's in a state Of shock. Some
enc has to help her" And Grace
Lorch helped her.
1t was no glorious flight of bat
tie gallantry with It's reward In
ribbons and acclaim; 1t was a
simple act of human kindness
which in its context was Drawer
than the deeds of heralded valor,
There was Dorothy Counts, the
Negro girl who went to school
IN Charlotte and stayed all day
amid the nasty catcalls to give
a lesson m deineanor and in cour-
age that her cheapened persecu-
tors wouldn't understand.
She and Terrence Roberts and
Elizabeth Eckford, by their very
actions on this one day, proved
their right to every privilege
their country offers. / think that
principals and parents in our own
country might draw attention to
these courageous youngsters as
new school year begins.
To lurch sulkily off to school,
pampered and prodded and pret-
See STUDENS-page four