Warriors Don't Cry

                Warriors Don’t Cry was a complete eye opener for me; it was a social studies lesson integrated into a life lesson. I had no idea integration was that big of a heated subject back in the 1950s. Yes, I know we have not completed let go of racial issues, but I am grateful it is not as hostile as it was back then. Where people warriors back then? Yes! Where they the normal warriors with shields and weapons? No. Reading the memoir of Melba’s, her struggle and never giving up brought light into my eyes to focus less on the bad in my life and more on the good.

                In the beginning of the story before we even read about her experience, Melba tells us when she wakes up she polished her shoes and went off to war; it was similar like being a solider in war. Melba deals with all sorts of struggles of physical, emotional, and verbal abuse during her year at school. Despite all of abuse, she gets up every morning and makes it through a whole year without giving up. I applaud her on how she dealt with the abuse. A regular warrior would fight back at the attackers; however, Melba went about fighting about in a completely different way. She killed the attackers with kindness by smile and saying “Thank you for….”; she looked away when others were trying to verbally attack her. Her shields and weapons were not to acknowledge them and give them comfort in knowing they were destroying her on the inside.

                Through all the struggles, Melba has had a strong support system in her grandmother and her mother and also role models to follow. On page 57, Grandma India tells Melba while she is crying, “You’re a warrior on the battlefield for your Lord. God’s warriors don’t cry, ‘cause they trust that he’s always by their side.” Melba’s family is strongly religious and family orientated. Through Melba’s grandmother advice, she learned she has to be strong with courage and will have God’s help on her side. Once grandmother notices Melba has to be a warrior, Melba soon realizes on her 16^th birthday she has to be warrior but only wants to be a normal girl. In her journal, she writes, “Please, God, let me learn how to stop being a warrior. Sometimes I just need to be a girl (217). Melba recognizes not only does she has to enter a new, hostile environment at Central but leave behind old friends and desires.

                If I was in her situation, I do not think I would last one minute in the school while being physically, verbally, and emotionally abused. Through Melba’s fight during the year, she became a warrior to better the lives for the African-American community. From this experience many others saw how big of a fight the nine students had to go through which helped strength the integration process. Melba fought day after day and went a whole year at Central and developed into a stronger warrior than when she started the school year.