Warriors Don't Cry

One of the clearest realities Warriors Don’t Cry reveals is the unwillingness of government officials and public employees to stand up in the face of angry racists and do the necessary, right thing. The narrative contains many references to important leaders and servants in Little Rock who do not step up to enforce the dictates of integration and, especially, to ensure the safety of the Little Rock Nine. These individuals choose impotence over action. On the Black students’ first day inside the Central High building, police manning barricades meant to hold back angry white citizens do not prevent individuals from crossing the street to the school building. When three white women intent on attacking Melba climb over the fence into the outside athletic area, the teacher and administrative guide tell Melba to run but do nothing about the trespassing women. Authorities do nothing to prevent or punish such lawbreakers. When police finally arrest some attackers in the mob, the newspapers report that authorities have dropped the charges.

The unwillingness or inability to prevent the violent behavior, threats, and epithets experienced by the nine pervades every group in authority. From the first day of classes, when the Arkansas National Guard protects Central High but not the Black students enrolled in it, to the end of the school year, when a guardsman assigned to protect Melba convinces a student not to slash her face with a knife because “you could get us in real trouble if you keep that up” (211), the armed, uniformed members of the guard demonstrate a casual unwillingness to interfere with any expression of prejudice. School administrators, to whom the nine report any violence, scold the Black students for not understanding that they deserve and should expect the hostile behavior of white students. The chief culprit among administrators is the superintendent, who reveals in a meeting with Black parents and students that he has no plan and no intention of protecting the nine from the hostility of prejudiced students.

This chosen impotence contrasts with the forced impotence in the face of prejudice that Melba and the other Black students and their families face. The narrative contains examples of when Melba and her family feel that inaction is the best or only option. When the nurse caring for the newborn Melba explains that the hospital doesn’t “coddle n*****s” to justify their lack of care, Melba’s mother doesn’t talk back because she knows it might affect her husband’s employment. After her attempted rape, Melba and her family choose not to report the incident, fearing that doing so would only make things worse for them. When segregationists wait on the street outside Melba’s house, she often is forced to stay inside, losing the ability to spend time outside her home. For Melba, the other Black students, and their families, the persecution of the innocent directly results in forced impotence in the face of prejudice.

The chosen impotence of leaders in the face of the hostile prejudice endured by the nine has the effect of causing those few who are brave enough to stand up against prejudiced behavior to shine as paragons of virtue. Melba describes the few instructors and individuals who disallow the misbehavior of the segregationist with praise: her shorthand teacher, federal soldier and protector Dan, and the unnamed white couple who shielded Elizabeth from the wrath of the mob. The lesson Melba wishes to convey about the pervasive prejudice experienced by the nine is that they prevailed despite the worst the segregationists could do.