HomeMy WebLinkAbout0003_1_Ruby Bridges Proclamation 2020RECOGNITION OF NOVEMBER 14, 2020 AS
RUBY BRIDGES WALK TO SCHOOL DAY
NOVEMBER 9, 2020
WHEREAS, Ruby Bridges is an American civil rights activist who, at the
tender age of six, was the first African American child to desegregate an all -white
William Frantz Elementary School in Louisiana during the New Orleans school
desegregation crisis in 1960; and
WHEREAS, Ruby Bridges, walked to school almost every day, and on her
first day at William Frantz Elementary School was escorted by four federal marshals
and spent the entire day in the principal’s office as angry parents marched into the
school to remove their children; and
WHEREAS, Ruby Bridges’ first day of school experience, as a result of the
court order of Judge J. Skelly Wright, U.S. Circuit Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the District of Columbia Circuit, was commemorated by Norman Rockwell in his
painting, “The Problem We all Live With”; and
WHEREAS, as former U.S. Deputy Marshal Charles Burks recalled, “(Ruby
Bridges) showed a lot of courage. She never cried. She didn’t whimper. She just
marched along like a little soldier, and we’re all very, very proud of her”; and
WHEREAS, Ruby Bridges, asserted that “Racism is a grown-up disease, and
we must stop using our children to spread it”, chairs the Ruby Bridges Foundation
that she formed in 1999 to promote, “the values of tolerance, respect, and
appreciation of all differences”.
WHEREAS, the scholars of Deborah Carlino’s fifth-grade class from Martin
Elementary School in the South San Francisco Unified School District learned about
the life of Ruby Bridges, and as a way to honor the Civil Rights Activist, proudly will
participate in “Ruby Bridges Walk To School Day; and
WHEREAS, at the request of Martin Elementary School of the South San
Francisco Unified School District, the San Mateo County Board of Education and
Superintendent of Schools adopted a Resolution No. 18 -52 on October 17, 2018,
creating Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day in San Mateo County to be honored
annually on November 14.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that Mayor Richard Garbarino
and the City Council of South San Francisco do h ereby proclaim November 14,
2020, as “Ruby Bridges Walk To School Day” in South San Francisco, and
commend Deborah Carlino and the scholars of her fifth -grade class for
participating in this significant day to honor the Civil Rights Activist.