Hallowed Be Your Name: Searching for the Spirit of Justice in the Little Rock Nine Crisis and New Millennium

Abstract

6 | BLACK HISTORY BULLETIN VOL. 78, NO. 2 78 No.2 HALLOWED BE YOUR NAME: SEARCHING FOR THE SPIRIT OF JUSTICE IN THE LITTLE ROCK NINE CRISIS AND NEW MILLENNIUM By Conra D. Gist As a child I could not really understand the meaning and depths of my parents’faith. It was only recently that the SURIXQGLW\RIWKHLUUHOLJLRXVDI¿UPDWLRQEURNHWKURXJKWRPH,UHDOL]HGWKDWWKH\DQGWKHRWKHUVRI0DFHGRQLD SRVVHVVHGVRPHWKLQJHVVHQWLDOWRWKHYHU\VXUYLYDORIEODFNKXPDQLW\DQGLWRXJKWQRWEHGLVPLVVHGRUEHOLWWOHG1 Holy. Sacred. Divine. Revered. These are a few of the synonyms associated with the word hallowed. It is referenced at the beginning of the Lord’s Prayer spoken by Jesus in the Gospels—“Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your Name.”2 Hallowed denotes a submission to something greater in force and magnitude that must be acknowledged—a bowing to and making a way for. An obligatory honoring of an omnipotence. Despite the importance of what is hallowed, Cone’s statement suggests that it can be missed, overlooked, devalued. The fact that that which demands the most attention and respect—the hallowed places—can go unnoticed seems contradictory. But there are many hermeneutical interpretations for understanding the word that compete for conclusions drawn about life events. The integration of Central High School on September 25, 1957, by the Little Rock Nine—Terrance Roberts, Elizabeth Eckford, Ernest Green, Thelma Mothershed, Minnijean Brown, Jefferson Thomas, Carlotta Walls, Gloria Ray, and Melba Pattillo—was a monumental moment. A synthesis of the key events leading up to the Little Rock Nine Crisis PDNHVLWDSSDUHQWWKDWSRVLWLRQDOLW\LQÀXHQFHVWKHLQWHUSUHWDWLRQRIKRZZK\RULIMXVWLFHZDVH[HFXWHGRQWKDWGD\*ORULD Ladson-Billings3 argues that the term social justice is often either simplistically critiqued (e.g., targeted by rightist political groups in the U.S.) or uncritically appropriated (e.g., utilized as the latest buzzword to secure funding) based on the interests of stakeholders. To challenge the empty rhetorical use of the term social justice, Ladson-Billings, instead, calls for justice: just justice. This article grapples with this call for justice by 1) looking for evidence of its footprints from multiple vantage points in the cultural, political, and social fabric of Little Rock during the 1957 integration of Central High School; 2) exploring the phenomenological experience of being guided by the spirit of justice; and 3) contemplating the path toward hallowed and sacred justice acts in the new millennium. Looking from Multiple Vantage Points 7KHVRFLDOSRVLWLRQVDQGUROHVSHRSOHRFFXS\HQDFWLQÀXHQFHRYHUWKHLULQWHUSUHWDWLRQVRIHYHQWVDQGLQWKHFDVH of the Little Rock Nine Crisis, the view of whether or not justice was executed. There is the legislative perspective on the developments leading up to the integration of Central High School—the Brown v. Board of Education case and subsequent nationwide struggles to begin desegregation in schools. This viewpoint calls attention to the vital role judicial and executive branches of government played in upholding (e.g., requiring the enforcement of Brown), advancing (e.g., establishing additional legal precedents such as Aaron v. Cooper), and stagnating (e.g., various interpretations of Brown II) justice HIIRUWV(OHFWHGJRYHUQPHQWRI¿FLDOV²8QLWHG6WDWHV3UHVLGHQW(LVHQKRZHUDQG$UNDQVDV*RYHUQRU)DXEXV²WDSSHGWKH armed National Guard and 101st Airborne Division to enforce various executive orders, which offers a militarization view of how executive power is enforced. However, the negotiation and struggle for power between state and federal leaders is also apparent in this crisis. This raises the question of the motive of leaders—were they, in the case of Eisenhower, more concerned with justice or power? BLACK HISTORY BULLETIN VOL. 78, NO. 2 | 7 78 No.2 With the Southern Manifesto4 challenging the validity of the U.S. Constitution over states, was the presence of the 101st Airborne Division about justice or order? The political vacillation of support and challenge to desegregation efforts on the part of politicians also highlights the ways in which personal ambitions can eclipse the mission of justice efforts. For instance, Faubus’s political agility on addressing desegregation during his 1956 re-election illustrates...