Celebrating the Courage of the Arkansas Nine (Rep. Vic Snyder)

The 1957 desegregation was a pivotal moment in our nation’s history and it was brought about because of the courage of nine teenagers. The events over the last couple days are a celebration of courage and a commemoration of the event. In addition to being a recognition that our country does best when it acknowledges its mistakes and flaws and figures out how to move with progress towards a better future. That is the significance of this event.

I contrast it with the People’s Republic of China, where they refuse to acknowledge what happened at Tiananmen Square. The day will come when they recognize who the heroes were and where the flaws of their society are. Therefore becoming a better country for it. In contrast to what’s going on in this country where we celebrate the courage of these nine wonderful people.

Of course this country still has problems with racism. Are things better now than they were twenty years ago? Of course they are, and one of the reasons why they are better is because of these nine Americans.