Civil rights icon Ruby Bridges Hall: Ban assault weapons
JACKSON, Miss. — Ruby Bridges Hall, who faced threats and harassment when she integrated a southern school as a child several decades ago, said Friday that she is distressed by mass shootings in U.S. schools.
“When I think about our babies today and them not being safe in school, I think that should be the next civil rights movement, you know, is to ban the assault weapons so that our babies can be safe,” Hall said.
She spoke at a gala in Jackson, Mississippi, where she was one of five activists being honoured for advancing civil rights.
Hall, now 63, is a native of Tylertown, Mississippi. When she was 6 and known simply as Ruby Bridges, she became the first African-American child to enrol in an elementary school in New Orleans in 1960, accompanied by U.S. marshals. Some white parents withdrew their children, and she could only eat food brought from home because someone threatened to poison her.