Knocking down barriers

Deepa Bharath

NEWPORT BEACH -- Terrence Roberts was pushed, shoved, bullied and even

hit on the head till he bled.

And all he wanted was to go to school.

Roberts, now 60, holds a doctorate in psychology. But in 1957, he was

one of the famous “Little Rock Nine” -- the first group of black students

to be integrated into the all-white Central High School in Little Rock,

Ark.

Roberts served as the keynote speaker Wednesday during Corona del Mar

High School’s Appreciating Diversity Day, put on by the school’s Peer

Assistance Leadership program.

Students listened as Roberts recounted the year in high school that

tested him and eight other students.

“The harassing and tormenting that occurred was beyond what one can

explain,” Roberts told the students, who filled Corona del Mar High’s

gymnasium.

Roberts lived barely a block away from Central High but took two buses

across town to go to a school for black students.

“The message that was being sent to me was that I did not count,” he

said. “That I was across the line and didn’t have any privileges.”

In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it was no longer

constitutional to discriminate in the field of education.

That prompted the Little Rock Nine experiment, despite opposition from

then-Gov. Orval Faubus. Resistance from students was also pretty rough,

Roberts said.

“We’d walk into class, and they would stand up and look at us with

contorted faces,” he recalled.

Roberts said there was one student who had decided to harass Roberts

full time. Taking a shower after gym was always Roberts’ worst nightmare.

“I’d have all showers turned toward me at full heat and full blast,

and there would be broken glass on the floor,” he said. “It was really

hard to distinguish between water and broken glass.”

One such day, after a shower, Roberts tried opening his locker when a

student threw a combination lock at him.

“It hit me so hard on the side of my head, to me, it sounded like the

whole room had exploded,” he said.

Despite those challenges, Roberts completed that year in Central High.

The following year, the governor closed all schools in Arkansas to fight

desegregation, and Roberts moved with his family to Los Angeles, where he

finished high school.

Knowledge and learning are the best weapons against hatred, Roberts

told the students.

“We have to learn how to cope with difference if we are to survive as

a nation,” he said. “Many believe things will change over time. But time

doesn’t change anything. It’s the action we take in time that brings

about change.”

Freshman Shane Collins said Roberts’ powerful words influenced him.

“I don’t know if I’d have had the courage to do and go through what he

and the other students did,” he said.

Stephen Dao, a senior, said he found the speech “inspirational.”

“I was shocked,” he said. “I didn’t think people could treat others

like that. In a way, I was disappointed.”

* Deepa Bharath covers public safety and courts. She may be reached at

(949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at o7 deepa.bharath@latimes.comf7 .