Changing the world one step at a time

Not going to lie...today was kind of a lot to handle. It was absolutely amazing to be able to go to all of those museums, memorials, and to walk around in the different locations, but it was a lot to take in all at the same time. We first went to the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, which honored the victims of lynching by county. The architecture and how it was set up was very interested to see, because as you walked on it got more and more “severe” and the engraved stones were hanging higher and higher. The part about why they were lynched was so hard to go through because they were the more unreasonable excuses to hurt someone. Another “hard” place to endure was the Legacy Museum. That was very interesting to go through and to learn about, but it was also so heartbreaking the more and more you continued from exhibit to exhibit. Every part of it was more powerful than the last and it was really captivating and heartbreaking to learn about. A part that struck out the most to me was the listings of the enslaved people and how they were written about in such nice ways but were treated so horribly. 

It was also super uncomfortable to be in the confederate cemetery in Selma. The fact the the whole city seems to be a “ghost town” and how that cemetery was so well-kept and nice looking when across the street there are homes that look like they’re falling apart is sickening. It was also so scary to think about what it would be like if all of those people in the cemetery were alive, and there in real life. What would they do? What would they say? Would they be like the white supremacists that are active in the world and media today? 

Lastly, the walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge and the big group talk that we had afterwards are definitely experiences that I will never forget. It was so exhilarating and empowering to walk across the bridge, in the same place where Martin Luther King Jr. walked all those years ago, while singing the freedom songs that all of those people seeking equality and justice sang together. It made me feel so empowered to be in that position, and as if I too can change the world one step at a time. Our talk afterwards was one of the “realest” experiences in my life. It showed me that I am not alone in my problems and fears. We are all the same. We are all going through things, and can all get through it together. But the truth is, that the world is not fair and is full of hate, and that is something that I want to fix. I said in the circle today that I firmly believe that hatred is taught. How else would so many people be able to look into someone’s eyes and HATE them just because of the color of their skin? How can they not see their humanity and see that we are all the same? Hatred was apparent in the civil rights era and it is apparent now. In our corrupt politics and present in our society and media. That is one overarching and powerful thing that has not changed throughout the years. Yes slavery was abolished, and yes after much fighting for equality and justice and after many many unnecessary murders were black and white people officially proclaimed as equals, but even today racism and segregation is still prominent in more evolved ways. The hatred is still there and still alive and that is what is pushing our country and society down the drain like it keeps doing over and over again. The worst part is that I clearly see this, especially after today but I feel powerless at the same time. I don’t know what I can do to help change the country and the world. Yes, writing to politicians and protesting are good things to do, but it doesn’t seem like that will alter anything. I hope that by the end of this trip that I might have a clearer idea about what to do, but in the meantime I will stay open-minded and open to all the possibilities that can arise. 

-Taura Zarfeshan