History and History in the Making
The last two days have my brain on overdrive. I have become in the last two days even more appreciative of the sacrifices people before me made so that I could attend an integrated public school system and have access to the higher educational institutions of my choice. I think about all of the things I take for granted in life, such as anytime I walk into a public restroom only checking to make sure I’ve got the sign designating the right gender, not concerning myself with a “Whites Only” marker. These things should not be considered as “taken for granted” since it is a basic human right but people before faced brutal consequences for much smaller than using the “wrong facility” that make me appreciate the peace of mind they have given me.
From walking around downtown Montgomery, I grappled with the juxtaposition of moving from a former Slave Market to Dexter Ave King Memorial Baptist Church up to the State House where on one side of the grounds sat a very large monument honoring the Confederate soldiers (and more so the Confederate cause, whether deemed historical or current) and then onto the Civil Rights Memorial Institute. Over and over, I kept asking myself how can the policy makers in the State House look at the window to see such a large Confederate Monument and truly implement and/or enforce policies and laws that had the best of ALL people in mind.
As I walked through the George Washington Carver Homes, thinking about the Confederate monument the lawmakers in Montgomery look out their window to see, I could still see Jim Crow hard at work. I do not want to make the assumption that the residents do not enjoy their life there, but I can’t help but feel their access to resources is limited. And then after hearing the low high school graduation rates and high poverty rates in Selma, it put into context what truly is happening today in this type of community. After walking across the Edmund Pettus Bridge which symbolizes so much of the fight for freedom and equal opportunity, I wonder if the people in the Housing Projects feel like they have the opportunity (though they live in such a historical community) to be doctors, lawyers, farmers or whatever else they may want to be?
And then to hear the low numbers of Black students attending the flagship University of Alabama, it paints such a sad picture after seeing the places where so many people’s blood was shed just for such freedoms. Institutionalized racism is alive and well and the problem is many of us (of all races) don’t even know it.