An experience that was extremely profound and inspiring for me was being present for the church service on Sunday minding at Ebenezer Baptist Church. This was my first ever church service, and it was so interesting and moving to be able to experience my first church experience at the same place that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. preached, even if it was a new building that we were in. The church was beautiful in the inside with high ceiling and a big cross hanging down the middle. The Baptist choir sat behind the pastor and lead singers and they were absolutely amazing. Music is a huge part of my life and my identity and to see a group of people bring that powerful music, which was a very important part in the movement, and connecting that with spirituality was absolutely amazing. I had goosebumps everywhere and even had some tears in my eyes after hearing the last singer in particular. She was an older woman with the most breathtaking voice and biggest range. I loved that I could hear the struggle and pain that it seemed like she’d been through, but was able to channel through singing and music. It was an unreal and very moving experience to have and I am so grateful to have been able to get the change to experience it.
Being able to later go into the original church where he actually preached, while hearing recordings of his sermons was and u real experience. It felt as if he was really in the space, even though it’s in a whole other time. Throughout the day, I kept thinking to myself how so many of these problems and experiences that happened in the Civil Rights Era is happening again in our own lives today, but in different ways. Even though then the main issue was racial discrimination, and today we have many issues but mainly due to a corrupt government, the same overlying factor remains, hate. This reminded me of the powerful quote by Martin Luther King Jr. that stated: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” I believe and have been inspired by many of my experiences today, that we as the young generation should step up and rise to the challenge of fixing a problem that we did not create for the good and betterment of our future generations, and to get rid of the hate that has re-risen in our world and instead replace that with love like Dr. King hoped and advised.
-Taura
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