Ruby Bridges Page #5

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Only A New Bag, Though.

And A "Co-Cola."

[ Sighs ]

Here, Swallow This.

My Cookin' That Bad,

All You Want To Eat

Is Packaged Foods?

You Didn't Eat Nothin'

Yesterday. You Didn't

Eat Nothin' This Mornin'.

All You Wanna Eat

Is Chips.

Does Mrs. Stein

Stand Outside My School

And Say Those Mean Things?

[ Sighs ]

No. Baby, She's Jewish.

They Not Much Nicer

To Her, Either.

But She Said We Can't

Come In Her Store No More.

She Did?

Well, That's

Not Very Nice, But--

It's Because Of Me, Right?

How Come No One

Likes Me, Mama?

No. Baby, No.

No.

See, You And The Other

Colored Girls

Are Doin' Something

That White Folks Don't Like.

It's Not You. They Don't

Want Colored Children

Goin' To Their Schools.

But You Know What?

You're Special,

And You're Smart,

And You Deserve An Education

Just As Good As Theirs.

They Say Those Mean Things

'Cause They Want You To Think

That You Don't Deserve It.

But No Matter What They Say,

You Know God Loves You.

And They Don't Know

What They're Talking About.

[ Crowd Shouting ]

- Go Home!

- [ Shouting Continues ]

I'm Gonna Poison You.

I'm Gonna Poison You

Till You Choke To Death,

You Little N*gger!

- Don't Look, Ruby.

- Go Home! Go Home!

Step Back!

Get Her Inside!

Step Back!

Yes, Sir! I Got You!

- I-I'm Just Tryin' To Take

My Daughter To School.

- Traitor!

[ Shouting ]

Okay, Reverend.

Come On. Hurry Up.

[ Girl Whimpering ]

Come On. Hurry Up.

Let's Get Outta Here.

Traitor! Traitor! Traitor!

[ Sobbing ]

They're Crazy.

Traitor!

Why Don't You Go Home?

We Don't Want You Here!

- Go Home!

- Traitor!

Honey,

Some People Were Raised

With Funny Ideas

About People That Are

Different Than Them.

You See, They--

[ Sighs ]

They Think Skin Color

Is Everything.

And If You Don't Have

The Same Skin As Theirs,

They Don't Like You.

Oh.

Not All People

Are Like That.

We're Not Like That.

We Know That All People

Are Special.

And That We Should

Respect Everyone.

Is It Only My Skin?

[ Sighs ]

Ruby, Do You Know What,

What Slavery Is?

No? Well, There Was

A Time In The South

When White People

Used To Own Negroes.

Like You Would Own

A Pet Or, Or A Toy.

And They Used To Make

The Negroes Work Very Hard

Without Any Pay.

But In The North,

Where I'm From,

We Knew That Was Wrong.

And The North And South

Had A Big Fight,

And The North Won.

And They Told The South

They They Had To

Free All The Slaves.

Praise The Lord.

[ Chuckles ]

But You See, Some People

Still Haven't Gotten Over

The Difference

Between Negro And White,

And They Don't Want Them

To Be Together.

And Those People Outside

Are Angry

Because The Laws

Are Forcing The Whites

To Be With The Negroes,

And They Don't Like That.

But Why Do They Say

Those Mean Things To Me?

I Didn't Do Anything.

No, You Didn't

Do Anything, Honey.

You See, They Just--

They Just Feel Threatened

And-- [ Sighs ]

They're So Angry That

They Don't Like Anybody,

Not Even Themselves.

You Know, Some People

Sometimes When They

Feel Kicked Down That--

Hey Don't Know

How To Do Anything Else

But Kick Other People Down.

And You And I Both Know

That That's Not Right.

Right? Yeah.

Okay.

[ Baby Crying ]

Why Don't We Take A Look

At Our Drawings Now?

Shall We? Let's See

What You've Done.

Hmm.

Let Me See That.

- Is This You Here, Ruby?

- Uh-Uh.

It's My Friend Alison

And Her Daddy.

She's Sad Because He Don't

Like Her To Play With No One

Whose Daddy Doesn't

Make As Much Money

As Her Daddy Makes.

Oh. So Alison's

A White Girl.

No.

No?

She's Like Me.

Oh? I Couldn't Tell

Because You Draw Her

And Her Father

With Pink Crayons

Instead Of Brown.

In Fact, You Draw Yourself

With Pink Crayons A Lot Too.

So You've Got Blue Hair

Instead Of Black.

And, Um, You've Drawn Yourself

And Alison And Her Father

With Missing Parts.

See, You Don't Have

A Mouth There,

Alison Doesn't Have Ears,

And Her Father Has No Eyes.

But You Teacher And I--

You've Drawn Us

With All Of Our Parts

Carefully Intact.

Why Do You Think

That Is?

You Call This Good?

There's Kindergartners

Who Draw Better Than That.

[ Laughing ]

[ Laughing ]

What's Wrong

With My Drawing?

[ Laughing ]

Yeah, That Is

Pretty Bad, Huh?

[ Laughing ]

That's Good.

[ Laughing ]

Oh.

Oh, Bob.

You've Gotta Try This.

Lucielle Taught Me

How To Make Red Beans And Rice.

[ Laughs ]

Uh, No, Thank You.

[ Kids ] Good Night, Daddy.

He Never Gets Anything

This Good At Home.

Everyone In Bed?

Yeah.

[ Clears Throat ]

Why Don't You Have

A Seat, Doc?

Oh, Uh, No.

No, Thank You.

It's Kind Of You,

But We Really Need

To Hit The Road.

Oh. Well, At Least

Let Me Give You Some Pie.

I Mean, Biloxi Is A Long Way.

Uh, No. I'm Not Hungry.

Really.

Uh, I Should Tell You,

Though, Before We Go

That I'm A Bit

Concerned About Ruby

And What's Going On

Out At The School.

Have Either Of You Noticed

Any Peculiar Behavior

With Ruby, Uh,

Aside From The Doll And How

She Spoke To Her Siblings?

[ Abon Sighs ]

Uh, No, No. She, Uh,

Seems All Right To Me.

She Won't Eat

Like She Used To.

Doctor, Let Me Tell You

Something.

She Don't Want Nothin'

'Cept Packaged Food.

Like Cookies And Chips,

And... She Won't Drink

Nothin' But Coca-Cola.

Um, I Think I Know

What's Happening.

I've Observed The Hecklers

Out In Front Of The School,

And There's

One Particular Woman Who--

Well, She...

Threatens To Poison Ruby.

I'm Sorry Very Much

To Have To Tell You Both,

But She Threatens

To Kill Her.

[ Gasps ]

Oh.

What?

Excuse Me.

I'm Sorry, Mr. Bridges.

I Am.

Ain't Your Fault.

[ Lucielle Crying ]

You Gotta Show

Yourselves Out. I Gotta--

Of Course. Yeah.

Good Night.

[ Crying Continues ]

How Can They Be So Cruel

To My Baby?

I Thought I Was Doing

The Right Thing.

I Really Did.

Shh. Come On. Come On.

It Ain't All Your Fault.

I Should

Have Put My Foot Down.

I Shouldn't Have Let You

Talk Me Into It.

I Ain't Never Been For This

In The First Place.

So You Think

We Should Stop?

Ruby Ain't Stayin'

In That School, Cielle.

I Just Need To Pray

About This.

I Know My God Wouldn't Give Me

More Than We Could Handle.

He--

What Do You Think

You're Doin'?

I'm Doin' What's Best

For Our Daughter.

I Watched Her Tonight,

And I Listened

And I See She--

She Got It In Her Head

That White Folks

Is Better Than Colored.

She Draws Colored Folk

Deformed

And White Folk Perfect.

But What's That Got To Do

With Jesus?

[ Whispering ]

Ain't Nobody Really Know

What He Looks Like.

But When She

Sees This Every Day,

Tells Her That God

Looks More Like

Them White Folks

Outside Her School

Than Her.

[ Sighs ]

Can You Make Some Dinner

Now, Please?

Oh, So You're Hungry,

Huh?

Yes.

Oh, Well, I'm Not.

I Had

A Home-Cooked Meal.

Good Night.

[ Groans ]

Daddy! Daddy!

I Have To Show

You Something!

All Right.

Hold On.

[ Sighs ]

Ah, Report Card.

Arithmetic, "A".

Readin', "A".

Spellin', "A".

Music, "A".

Art, "A".

All A's, Daddy!

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