When Dr. Terrance Roberts walked through the doors of Sacramento State?s Multi-Cultural Center Feb. 21, he found more than 30 people of different ethnic backgrounds waiting to hear from a civil rights propagandist.

Before Roberts walked through the doors of Central High School in Little Rock, Ark., in 1957, he and eight young students faced racial intolerance by being the first African Americans to desegregate schools in the southern states.

All Roberts wanted was an opportunity to get a first-rate education.

“I knew what I was up against,” Roberts said of the historical civil rights movement. “I knew I was there primarily to survive and it didn?t have much to do with what was being taught.”

Roberts began his lecture with a 10-minute video that documented the historical events that took place in Little Rock. After the video ended, he explained the importance of Supreme Court decisions that led to the desegregation of schools.

“Little Rock was not accidental. This was set up, orchestrated and designed by our government,” Roberts said. “As an example, in 1896 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the case cited as Plessy vs. Ferguson, the old separate but equal decision.

“What that did was to give this country the right to separate itself. Lines drawn in color,” Roberts continued to say. “The Plessy decision essentially said that it was constitutional, legal, ethical, moral, socially appropriate and highly desirable to separate people based on skin color. It was an odd kind of thing to do, but yet it was the law of the land ? ?we have the right to discriminate.?”

When Roberts was born in 1941, “the Plessy decision was in full-force,” he said. “The message to me was ?Terry Roberts you don?t count for much. You are assigned to the nether end of society. That portion where people have no privileges ? that?s your place.?”

That message didn?t settle with Roberts and he decided to do something to eradicate it.

“Mine was a segregate existence, an existence that included having to defend myself against those that felt they had the right to treat me in whatever way they so desire.”

In 1954 the Supreme Court ruled again, this time in Brown vs. the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. The court ruled that it was no longer constitutional to discriminate based on a person?s skin color.

The southern states did not abide by the Supreme Court ruling as Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia and Mississippi became the vanguard of opposition.

“They called it a massive resistance to the Brown decision,” Roberts said of the unification of deep south states. “What they want was segr

egation today, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever. That was the battle cry.”The battle cry of Dixie stood in the way of social progression until nine young students decided to make a difference, Roberts said.

“When the governor (of Arkansas) said you can?t go to school I took it personally,” he said. “At any rate, the nine of us decided no matter what happens with this (desegregating Central High) we are going through with it. We decided to adopt a policy of non-violence. We are not going to fight.”

Those in the fight included Roberts, Ernest Green, Melba Pattillo Beals, Elizabeth Eckford, and Gloria Ray Karlmark.

In addition, Carlotta Walls LaNier, Jefferson A. Thomas, Minnijean Brown Trickey and Thelma Jean MothershedWair risked their lives for the sake of humanity.

“I don?t think it was about right or wrong ? it was about choice,” Roberts said to the audience.

All sorts of mayhem came out of the integration of Central High. Physical abuse from the opposition was prevalent. Roberts was actually hit in the head with a combination lock. He still stood on the ground of non-violence.

“You simply had to stand there and absorb any punishment thrown at you,” Roberts said.One student did fight back after an altercation with angry white students. She was expelled, too.

“Minnie Brown did fight back and then they kicked her out,” Roberts said. “They said she couldn?t handle it.”

After all the adversity, Central High did stay integrated and Roberts eventually left Arkansas for California, where he graduated from high school.

“Actually I was kicked out of Arkansas,” he said. “And migrated to the land of milk and honey.”

Two years ago, former President Bill Clinton honored the Little Rock Nine with the Congressional Gold Medal for their civil rights deeds.

Today, Roberts, 59, is now practicing psychology, has two daughters, lives in Los Angeles and is a consultant for the Little Rock School District.

Roberts? heroics and actions caught the attention of Sac State students including senior Silke Bradford, a social science major.

“He definitely answered a lot of questions I had and dispelled some myths about (the Little Rock Nine) that they went through some mental testing to see if they were stable enough and the NAACP had them picked out,” she said. “It was really a much simpler and scary process. They just volunteered and were pretty much thrown out there.”

Through the experience, Roberts has relied on his own actions, and he will not forget the action of non-violence to combat racial tension.

“I won?t allow anyone to set my agenda for action. If so that person has your number,” Roberts said. “If you walk across the campus and somebody calls out a racial epithet, if you turn around to pop them, you have been captured.”