Beale was a voice for civil rights during social upheaval in Merced

At just over 5 feet tall, Julia Beale stood tall at a time in Merced with widespread racial injustice and social upheaval, community leaders say.

Because she was the voice for Merced’s minority communities, she was named the grand marshal for this year’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day March.

The 86-year-old, originally from Lexington, Va., said she stepped off the train in Merced on July 21, 1958, expecting to see a metropolis. “I thought I was going to a big town with skyscrapers or something,” she said.

She said she quickly learned it was a rural community, but what really upset her was the discrimination she saw around her. There was the police harassment, poor treatment from shop owners and disparities in the number of opportunities for people of color.

“I thought I’d come out West, but found I’d come out South,” she said.

Beale was one of the most visible figures during the late 1960s and early 1970s pushing for desegregation of schools in Merced. She said a group of black and Chicano students came to her with what they called the “13 concerns,” a list of racial disparities they saw in student life, teacher representation and other areas.

Beale’s oldest daughter, Debra Marzette, said, for example, the school told the black students they couldn’t bring their “cake cutter” hair picks to school because they could be used as weapons. At the time, the 65-year-old said, young people had adopted the Afro and used the cake cutter to pick it out.

At the same time, Marzette said, white students were allowed to hang a rifle in the gun rack in their trucks.

The family said Beale was constantly being asked for help from the community. “Our phone never stopped ringing,” Marzette said. “We always had the mayor ... people like that – councilmen – were always at our home.”

Being the voice of the oppressed wasn’t easy. The threats started coming in, they said. Beale said praying was the only thing she could do to get through it.

Beale eventually earned her degree and started teaching at Rivera Junior High, where she would stay for more than 20 years. “I’d been out in the community for years,” she said. “I decided that working with students, probably, I could accomplish more.”

“If I accomplished anything at all,” she said, “it is that I taught students to feel better about themselves.”

One of the students, Jerome Rasberry, said she made an impression on him when he was in her classroom. The 38-year-old now works at Le Grand High.

“(She’s) a very active example,” he said. “She’s one of the main people who pushed me to get into education, because she knew me, being a man of color, that (it) would be a good change for our children and also for our educational system.”

He went on to describe Beale as “sweet,” “old school” and “no nonsense.”

This year’s parade in honor of King is the first since the election of Donald Trump, who has been accused of using divisive and hateful speech.

Beale said the president-elect’s rhetoric is a reminder that underserved groups must stay “diligent” and not expect to be thanked as they fight for the needs of their communities. “Those that are out there today working are going to face things we’ve never seen,” she said. “He does not represent what we stood for.”

At first, Beale said, she wanted to refuse the grand marshal’s seat. But, she added, people around her kept telling her about their memories of the times she spoke on behalf of Merced’s underserved community.

“I haven’t learned to accept praise,” she said. “I think I really represented the people. We were a unit.”

This story was originally published January 15, 2017 at 2:24 PM with the headline "Beale was a voice for civil rights during social upheaval in Merced."