Ruby Bridges Page #7

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I Reckon,

We Hear You,

All Right.

You Know, Bridges,

'Fo' Your Kid

Went To That School,

This Neighborhood

Was Doin' Fine.

But Now We Got Barricades,

Ain't Welcome In Stein's,

White Folks Up The Street

Lookin' At Us Sideways.

Now, Colored Folks

Is Talkin' About

Boycottin' Mardi Gras.

Which Means

My Tavern Ain't Gonna

Do No Business!

So, If I Wanna Holler--

Well, You Sure Are Gonna

Hear Me, All Right!

[ Sighs ]

Uh!

[ Laughs ]

[ Angry Chanting ]

Go Home! Go Home! Go Home!

Go Home!

[ Chanting Continues ]

Ruby, Don't Look.

Hold It, Guys!

No, Ruby!

Come Back, Sweetie.

[ Angry Chanting

Continues ]

But, Honey, I Saw You

Talking To Them.

Did You Finally

Get Angry With Them?

Did Ya... Tell 'Em Just

To Leave You Alone?

No. I Didn't Tell

Them Anything.

I Didn't Talk To Them.

But, Ruby.

I Was There.

I Saw Your Lips Moving.

I Wasn't Talking To Them.

I Was Praying For Them.

Praying For Them?

Yes. I Pray For Them

Every Day In The Car.

But I Forgot That Day.

Oh.

What Prayer Did You Say?

Please, God,

Forgive These People.

Because Even If They Say

Those Mean Things,

They Don't Know

What They're Doing.

So You Can Forgive Them.

Just Like You Did Those Folks

A Long Time Ago

When They Said

Terrible Things About You.

We Used To Have

One Painting Of Jesus

On The Wall.

Somebody Stole It.

Know What?

I'm Going To Put

My Paintings

Up On The Wall Now.

Okay.

Hey, Little Boy!

[ Laughs ]

Whee!

[ Cielle ]

Carl, Don't Jump

On Miss Jane Like That!

Get Off There!

He's Okay. He's Okay.

Just Wanted To--

[ Laughing ]

Okay. Where Do You

Want To Put Them?

Right There.

All Right.

So, Doc, How's

My Little Girl Doin'?

[ Sighs ]

Okay.

You Know,

You Comin' Here,

Payin' Attention

To Her Like That,

Listenin' To Her--

That Makes Her Feel

Real Special.

Dr. Coles, Would You

Like Something To Drink?

Ah, That Sounds Great.

Thanks.

Here We Go.

C'mon, Baby.

C'mon, Carl.

And, Uh,

It's Bob, Please.

Bob.

I, Uh, Appreciate

Your Kind Words Very Much.

But, Uh, I Think

What Makes Ruby Feel

So Special Is...

You And Your Family

And...

Something Greater Than,

Than All Of Us.

[ Sighs ]

All This Time I Wondered

What Makes Her So Strong.

Don't Be Too Hard

On Yourself, Doc.

I Think There're Things

We're Not Supposed

To Figure Out

Till The Time Is Right.

Know What I Mean?

Uh-Huh.

Yeah. Huh.

I Mean,

Look At These Pictures.

Remember All The Ones

She Did

With The Pink Crayons?

Pink And Deformed.

[ Laughs ]

Yeah.

She's Certainly Wearing Out

The Brown Ones Now, Huh?

[ Sighs ]

Now, That's Progress.

Here We Are!

Wow.

What's That?

That's Gumbo.

Looks Great!

Mmm, Try It!

Mmm!

[ Laughs ]

[ Dr. Coles On Tape Recorder ]

And So, I Learned

That A Family And A Child

Under Great Stress And Fear

Could Show Exquisite

Dignity And Courage

Because Of Their Moral

And Religious Values,

And Because They Had

A Definite Purpose

In What They Were

Trying To Accomplish.

This Purpose

Made Them Resilient.

I Couldn't Figure Out The

Source Of This Resilience

Because I Had Only Worked

With Well-To-Do Children

Who Really Had Nothing

To Work Hard For--

No Reason Driving Them

To Accomplish Anything.

So Now I See That

The Issue Is Not Stress

But Stress

For What Purpose.

Having Something

To Believe In

Protected Ruby

From Psychiatric Symptoms

And Gave Her A Dignity

And A Strength

That Is Utterly Remarkable.

"So All We Could Do

Was To Sit, Sit, Sit."

She Is A Good Teacher.

My Kids Can't Read

That Well Yet.

Miss Woodmere?

From The Janitor.

Oh, Thank You.

Uh-Huh.

[ Bell Ringing ]

Lunchtime. Walk!

C'mon. Let's Walk.

Walk!

[ Clears Throat ]

There Have Been Mice

And Cockroaches In Here,

And The Janitor Needs

To See Why.

[ Cabinet Door Slams ]

What's All This?

Oh!

[ Miss Woodmere ]

Ugh!

[ Miss Woodmere ]

Disgusting!

[ Thunderclap ]

[ Sighs ]

Tsk.

I'm Not Angry

With You, Honey.

I'm Just Very Concerned

That You're Not Eating

Your Lunches.

I Mean, You're So Tiny

At It Is.

I Been Eatin' More

Than I Used To, Mrs. Henry.

Really.

But I Don't Like

What My Mama Makes Me

All The Time.

[ Giggling ]

[ Laughing ]

Want Some More?

That's For You.

Okay, Ruby, Here's A Test

To See How Well

You've Learned This Year.

Now, Honey,

You Take Your Time,

And You Do Your Best.

What's In The Box?

It's A Surprise.

That's What's In The Box.

What's In The Box?

He-He-Here We Go. Ho!

Look! I Draw Good Too!

Mine, Look At Mine!

You Two Get In The House!

Wow! Here. I'll Look

At Those Later. Okay?

I'm Sorry

About That, Bob.

Aw, That's Okay.

Hey.

You Wanna Play A Game?

What You Paint, Baby?

Okay?

This Is Your Classroom.

And Let's Say

That These Are, Uh,

You And The Other Students.

And I Was Wondering

If Maybe

You Could Tell Me

Something About Them.

And, Who They Are

And-- And What They're Like.

This One's Marie.

She's Nice.

Her Daddy's

A Minister.

Oh, Yeah?

This One's Scott.

He's Okay.

But He Doesn't

Really Like Girls.

Uh-Huh.

[ Dog Barking ]

This Is Jimmy.

He Used To Be Bad.

Now He Plays

Okay Sometimes.

But, Then, He Remembers

I'm Colored...

And Gets Bad Again.

How Exactly

Does He Act

When He Gets Bad?

He Pushes Me.

He Calls Me

Mean Things.

What Do You Do, Ruby,

When He Calls You

Mean Things?

Do You Get Angry And

Do Mean Things Back?

No. I Used To Be Bad

When Someone Did

Mean Things To Me.

At Church, I Heard

When Someone Is Bad,

God Makes A Bad Thing

Come Back On That Person.

So, I Don't

Do It Anymore.

I Want A "Co-Cola."

Okay.

You Want One?

Yeah.

Hey, Daddy!

Hey, Doc!

Cielle's Teachin'

Your Wife To Make Gumbo.

Uh-Oh.

Man, It's

Gonna Be A While.

[ Chuckles ]

Feel Like Takin' A Walk

When You Get Done?

- Sure. Great.

- All Right.

[ Sighs ]

[ Knocking ]

Mrs. Stein.

This Is For

Your Family.

[ Abon ] Things Finally

Calmin' Down Around Here.

[ Dr. Coles ]

Yeah.

Well, Thank You.

I Said Tell Me, Darlin'

Why You Got To Be So Mean

Hey, Abon!

But Where I Come From

You're Still

The Prettiest Thing

I've Ever Seen

Now, Go On,

Blow Your Horn, Boy!

[ Continues ]

Who Got The Medals?

Holden.

I Ever Tell You

I Got Me A Purple Heart?

Ah, No, But Janie Told Me.

How'd You Get It?

Got Wounded In Korea

Savin' A White Soldier.

Mmm.

So You Shed Blood

For A Country That Doesn't

Really Allow You

To Enjoy The Freedom

You Fought To Maintain.

That Can't Feel Good.

Nope.

That's Why

I Ain't Never Put Much Faith

In Integration, You Know.

I Mean, Even In The War,

Fightin' Side By Side,

We Were Still Colored,

They Were Still White.

Risked My Life For 'Em,

And... We Still Didn't Mix.

[ Laughs ]

We Sure Ain't Never...

Hung Out Together

Or Nothin'.

Before I Met Ruby,

I Never Thought

About Segregation.

You Didn't Have To.

- It's Gotta Make You

Angry, Huh?

- [ Sighs ]

No.

Not No More.

[ Laughs ]

Don't Do Me No Good.

You Know, Doc,

Believe It Or Not,

I Learn A Lot

From Watching My Ruby.

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