Frank stared at Dedra. She was amazing. She listened to the student who reported that a police car had just pulled up behind the scrub pines next to the storage shed. The car had crept down the main road with its headlights off, and two officers were now standing by its side.
Frank admired Dedra’s commitment to the nonviolent plan. When they couldn’t enter the building, she sent a few as lookouts along the road leading to the campus. Then she directed everyone to sit on the grassy area behind their old gymnasium. Students passed whispered updates as they sat in a circle, arms linked.
Frank saw them first. The two police officers walked over to the students, billy clubs in their hands, pistols on their hips. One held up a bullhorn and said, “Kettle Creek Police! You must leave now!”
The students responded by chanting in unison, “Hell no, we won’t go!”
Chaos erupted. Surprised students helped each other off the ground, stood up, linked arms, and created circles of tight bodies moving together, round and round.
“Hell no, we won’t go!”
Their voices were strong, clear, firm.
“Hell no, we won’t go!”
A second bullhorn from the rear of the school commanded, “You are trespassing! Go home or face arrest!”
The lookouts had missed another patrol car, parked on the opposite side of the building.
As the inner circle of football players and cheerleaders passed the outer circle, Frank saw his sister and her friends. He shouted, “Sissy, run home, now!”
He heard dogs barking as if they were tracking an animal. Breaking the line, he grabbed her. “You need to leave! Run through the path behind Miz Glover’s house, get inside, and lock the door!”
“But Frank, we want to help too!”
He shook her shoulders hard. “Now. Take your friends.”
As he watched Sissy, Pearl, and Kendra running away, he remembered the dog that had chased them on the first day of the crossover.
Dedra’s voice rose above the others. “No. Quiet. Everyone sit down.”
The inner circle of students stopped chanting and followed her command. Frank looked at their clenched jaws and pursed lips. No one made eye contact as they sat, still with linked arms, which protected them and kept them from running. The plan was to sit in silence as a form of passive resistance. Dedra had prepared them for taunts but not the dogs. Frank could smell the fear on his own body and the adrenaline rush that made him want to fight, not sit.
Frank felt his eyes widen as courage transformed his friend’s face. Her expression hardened as she led them by example. Dedra had studied the sit-ins that university students held at lunch counters and had told them all about SNCC, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. They had all agreed that the school administration hadn’t honored its promises to represent them on sports teams and student council. If they weren’t going to be allowed to graduate, did any of it make sense? Frank couldn’t help worrying. This wasn’t 1957, they weren’t the Little Rock Nine, and Dedra wasn’t Rosa Parks. They didn’t have organized support beyond themselves.
As Frank looked straight ahead, he saw the officers with the bullhorn. Two more officers had joined them, and they appeared to be arguing, but they were too far away to be audible.
Frank watched as a different man took the bullhorn. Low groans came from students near him. Frank felt his body tense and readied himself for bad news.
“Students, I am Captain Eastman. I’ve been sent to speak to you. Your parents are with the school board. They want to know what you’re doing here. Can one or two of you speak with us?”
Frank looked at Dedra as she turned her head and broke the silence. “I can talk to you.”
“What’s your name, young lady?”
She remained seated and calmly said, “My name is Dedra. What we want is simple. We are going to sit here until the school board lets us graduate this year.”