Today, I am lifting up the story and life of Lucille Bridges, mother of Ruby Bridges, who died yesterday at age 86.
We are most familiar with Ruby and can picture her as a 6-year old in braids, being escorted into William Frantz Elementary school by US Marshalls back in 1960. We can try to imagine the bravery it would take to walk past screaming crowds, just to attend class alone. Until today, I hadn’t considered what it would take to put my baby in that position. Ms. Lucille had that courage.
I've been thinking a lot about vulnerability in this tumultuous time. The vulnerability shared by my friends and colleagues has me thinking about what it means to be in a fight with EVERYTHING we have, not just our strong, tough, resilient parts. With our soft parts, our sensitive parts, our parts that need love. That's how we win. That's how Mrs. Bridges won -- not by standing alongside the angry adults, but by holding out her baby and saying, “take this.” She said "this which is MOST precious to me is what I have to offer" and she won.
As we work toward a new future, how can we summon the strength of that mother? Rather than seeing ourselves as the precocious kindergartener, how can we envision ourselves as the parent in the background? How can we take what is most precious to us and put THAT into the battle? Today and everyday, how can we be more like Lucille Bridges?
I hold her memory up as a lesson in courage, fortitude and victory. She won and yesterday, sixty years later, she died. May her memory be a blessing and a lesson. May we summon her strength as we wage battle on ignorance, intolerance and injustice. May we hold out what is most precious to us and say "take this."
This is what I have to offer.
https://apnews.com/article/race-and-ethnicity-new-orleans-ruby-bridges-c97802b9c2b2100c285e9e7d2f13800f