"The march continues..." is the slogan the Southern Poverty Law Center leaves with each visitor. The center was originally founded to offer free legal support to primarily poor, black southerners in anti-discrimination cases. Today it offers tolerance education resources, tracks the activities of hate groups, and continues to work to support those struggling against hate and for justice. It is also the home of the Civil Rights Memorial Monument, a powerful display designed by Maya Lin in honor of 40 people martyred during the civil rights movement. As we all revisited the history of the movement, the SPLC helped us to connect the history to our present. What injustices are occurring in our communities and country and globally today? What can we do about it?
Already, we had lively discussion about WEB DuBois and Booker T. Washington, Tuskegee University and the City of Tuskegee. It made many of us think of our own philosophy of equity in and access to education, about our own University and its relationship to the surrounding community.
We have one more day in Alabama before heading towards Georgia. I have a hunch that tomorrow as we stand in the pulpit of Dr. King's church on Dexter St. and walk over the Edmund Pettis bridge, we all will be sobered by the sacredness of our right to vote and participate in government and community. We walk on sacred ground and carry it's truth with us.
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