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Why Is This Happening? The Chris Hayes Podcast

Being “Irrepressible” with Little Rock Nine Member Minnijean Brown-Trickey (2023)

Why Is This Happening? The Chris Hayes Podcast

NBCNews

News, Nbcnews, Why Is This Happening?, The Chris Hayes Podcast, Chris Hayes, Politics, Government, Society & Culture, Msnbc, Withpod

4.68.9K Ratings

🗓️ 25 July 2023

⏱️ 54 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Since Chris is on vacation this week, we're re-sharing one of our favorite episodes. “I went because they didn’t want me there,” says Minnijean Brown-Trickey. It’s been more than 60 years since she made history. At 16-years-old, she and eight other black students found an angry mob and the national guard blocking their entry to Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas. Backed by 1,200 soldiers, they eventually made it inside for their first full day of class. White students threw hot food at them, called them names and even sprayed some of them with acid. One day, a white kid hit Minnijean with a purse. She responded by calling the student “white trash.” For that, she was expelled, which profoundly affected her trajectory. She ended up finishing her education in New York City and went on to become a civil rights activist and speaker. Minnijean joins WITHpod for a moving conversation about how she channeled the trauma she experienced into a life of activism, the continued fight for racial equality and more.

Transcript

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0:00.0

I went because they didn't want me there.

0:02.4

And it didn't make sense.

0:04.8

And I honestly, I went because I could feel sorry

0:09.1

for white kids that seemed not to be able to think.

0:13.4

And I went because the social myths had been

0:17.8

that white kids were smarter than black kids.

0:20.3

And I found out nope, not even close.

0:26.3

And so was I learning something every day

0:29.8

that contradicted the social myths about us being so different

0:36.4

and being so no.

0:42.6

Hello, welcome to Wise This Happening with me,

0:44.4

your host, Chris Hayes.

0:51.4

Last month, I got to go to New Orleans

0:53.5

for this really fascinating town hall we did through MSMEC

0:57.2

on the day after Martin Luther King Jr. Day,

1:00.2

where we did a day devoted to what we call racial healing,

1:04.1

which is I think can be a slippery and amorphous term,

1:06.5

but partly was inspired by the WK Kellogg Foundation

1:09.5

that does some really interesting work along these lines.

1:12.4

We had sponsored the show, we went down there.

1:14.8

And it was a great experience

1:15.9

we're in this incredible space called Studio B,

...

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