part 1

I don't believe racist comments should ever be ignored, but as the saying goes, "you attract more flies with honey than vinegar". We can return hatred for hatred, or we can attempt to educate others through kindness.
Ruby was a superb example of love and forgiveness of those who treated her with hatred. Here in her own words, she said:

I couldn't have gotten through that year without Mrs. Henry.... Sitting next to her in our classroom, just the two of us, I was able to forget the world outside.

I remember her explaining integration to me and why some people were against it. "It's not easy for people to change once they have gotten used to living a certain way," Mrs. Henry said. "Some of them don't know any better and they're afraid. But not everyone is like that."

Even though I was only six, I knew what she meant. The people I passed every morning as I walked up the schools steps were full of hate. They were white, but so was my teacher, who couldn't have been more different from them. She was one of the most loving people I had ever known. The greatest lesson I learned that year in Mrs. Henry's class was the lesson Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., tried to teach us all. Never judge people by the color of their skin. God makes each of us unique in ways that go much deeper. From her window, Mrs. Henry always watched me walk into school. One morning when I got to our classroom, she said she'd been surprised to see me talk to the mob. "I saw your lips moving," she said, "but I couldn't make out what you were saying to those people."

I wasn't talking to them," I told her. "I was praying for them." Usually I prayed in the car on the way to school, but that day I'd forgotten until I was in the crowd. Please be with me, I'd asked God, and be with those people too. Forgive them because they don't know what they're doing.

I'm grateful for the Ruby Bridges of the world who inspire me to return hatred with kindness and who remind us that children are not born bigots, but are taught to be by adults around them.

I challenge you to take her words below and put them on your refrigerator, your bathroom mirror, or wherever you can see them daily. Remind yourself that the next time you laugh at a racist joke or make fun of someone who is different from you, you have the eyes and ears of a child upon you, and that your actions speak louder than words.

“Each and every one of us is born with a clean heart. Our babies know nothing about hate or racism. But soon they begin to learn – and only from us. We keep racism alive. We pass it on to our children. We owe it to our children to help them keep their clean start.” --Ruby Bridges