For 32 years I was a Pediatrician and I wrote notes in the SOAP format: Subjective (what patient says), Objective (what I observe), Assessment (what I think it could be ie Diagnosis) and Plan (Treatment initiated). If written in that format, my blog would be very cut and dry and simply not serve the deep emotions I felt today and want to convey as we visited The Legacy Sites: The Legacy Museum, The National Memorial for Peace and Justice and the Freedom Monument Sculpture Park, all beautifully thought out by Bryan Stevenson a brilliant lawyer and Founder of the Equal Justice Initiative and all located in Montgomery, Alabama.
To be transparent , I am Jewish, a first generation American whose parents left Austria (Father) and Germany (Mother) to escape the Holocaust, and a member of the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, PA, the site of the worst Antisemitic incident in American History. Also, I just returned from London, England where I retraced my Mother’s foot steps where she had landed 85 years ago in England after being saved from the Holocaust by being transported by train and ferry out of Germany, away from her family, a process called Kindertransport. I see and experience things with those lenses. So, I can compare what I learn about Slavery and Racism to what I know about The Holocaust and Antisemitism, and it also makes me open and ready to learn about what the African and Afro-American experienced.
Today was almost too much for me, I am in deep sadness regarding man’s inhumanity to man, again and again as if the lesson of coexistence cannot be learned.
In the Legacy Museum the second room had sculpted heads done by amazing artist Kwame Akoto-Banfo and they were lying at the bottom of the ocean and wave sounds filled the room.
Of the 12 million persons abducted into slavery, ripped from their families, homes and traditions, 2 million did not survive the crossing of the middle passage. Though those people were missed by their families, many never found out what happened to them and we do not know who they are. I mourned them as I mourn the 6 million Jews who perished in the Holocaust. In Judaism there is a saying, if you save a life, you save the world. I was very, very sad at the loss of many worlds. My tears mixed with the ocean water. A young museum attendant came and asked if I was alright. She said we carry these, and she pulled out a small packet of tissues and gave them to me. Well, maybe I cannot understand or solve Man’s inhumanity to Man but her kindness and warmth to me shone brightly in such a dark space.
After the enslavement section (Kidnapped), came Terrorization, Segregation, and Incarceration. The rooms were filled with many pictures and stories of trouble, injustice, pain and suffering. On a wall of signs demeaning the “Negroes” in the South I saw one which said, “No “”, No Jews, No Dogs” and I say No, No, No, Respect all humanity! Also there were examples of braveness and tenacity. One amazing individual to rise above these troubled times was Ida B Wells, born enslaved in 1862. She campaigned against lynching, raised 4 kids and helped to found the NAACP.
Exhausted, I stumbled out into the bright sunlight and spent some time with MLK and Rosa Parks in the green space of Legacy Plaza.
Next we went to the National Memorial for Peace and Justice which documents the most active era of racial terror lynchings from 1877 to 1950. Large brown stones hang from the rafters and represent alphabetically the states, and subdivided alphabetically by county where lynchings took place. As I proceeded, the pathway dropped and the stones hung above me, representing the lynched person hanging from the rope…. And there were so, so many.
Sometimes I would see many names on the same day such as 23 people who were lynched in Carroll County, Mississippi on March 17th, 1866 in what is known as the Carroll County Courthouse Massacre. There was also a Stone which represented all the people who died and no record was known. So sad. Again, Man’s inhumanity to Man, a recurring theme. I had more sad thoughts and shed more tears at the waterfall. This monument reminded me very much of the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin, Germany where granite slabs of varying heights are displayed over a large space, representing to me the millions of gravestones for those lost in the Holocaust.
I have learned there are Ten Stages of Genocide and the process can be stopped anywhere along the way: The Ten Stages include: 1) Classification 2)Symbolization 3)Discrimination 4)Dehumanization 5)Organization 6)Polarization 7)Preparation 8)Persecution 9)Extermination And 10) Denial. The most significant one for slavery, lynchings and the Holocaust is the Dehumanization. And this was referred to at the Museum that the African, Black Race was considered to be less than human as were the Jews in Europe at the time of the Holocaust. When the dehumanizing has occurred, then atrocities are committed.
Lastly, we went to the newest installation, the Freedom Monument Sculpture Park. I noticed that each site we visited told the story of Slavery and the African American experience in America from the beginning and outlined the kidnapping, terrorization, segregation and incarceration themes. In this park he expanded it, describing what Africa And America looked like before colonization through art, poetry and music. He discussed the domestic slave trade that involved transport by river and the exhibit was by the river. Now it was very clear what was meant by “Being Sold Down the River”, it meant separation, yearning and sadness and trauma that is not yet healed. I read Mr William Wells Brown painful account of his slavery and I rejoiced when he was freed (panel 5). Throughout the winding path, stories of strength and resilience were told. All the names on the towering wall spoke to survival.
It was amazing to visit these museums and monuments on Juneteenth, the day on which the slaves of Texas received news of their freedom in 1865, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued. As seen by visiting the Legacy sites, free may not mean freedom!
As the day drew to a close, I honored those lost with two prayers:
The first is the Jewish Mourners Kaddish and
the second is well known to many in Jewish and Christian Faith
Psalm 23, the Psalm of David:
The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
As I’m ending this blog, I am hearing in my head John Batiste singing his song “Freedom” and my heart opens and receives a glimmer of hope for the future. To what darkness can I bring more light? That is what I am in search of on this trip..
Wednesday, June 19th 2024