A time for ugly
On Saturday, Mommy and Daddy took Ben and Anna to the Martin Luther King, Jr. historical site in downtown Atlanta. It was the first visit for Ben and for Mommy and the first visit in over ten years for Daddy. Anna went last year with her class in a large group.
The new visitor's center is very well done, with pictures, sculpture, and historical video from the times. The video pulled no punches and showed graphic depictions of the ugliness of segregation. Ben and Anna had a lot of questions that were very hard to explain.
"What does discrimination mean?"
"Why were those people so angry?"
"Why didn't they just tell the police?"
At times, Daddy was too choked up from the video scenes and questions to answer without taking a breath first.
However, the hardest question of call (at least for Mommy and Daddy) was explaining to Ben and Anna - for the first time - what the "N" word was. The historical videos showed what looked like respectable people using that vile word casually. It was on the signs that people were carrying in the pictures. It is not a word that Ben and Anna have ever heard or seen before.
Mommy and Daddy explained that this was a disgusting word that they will not ever use. It is a word full of hate and ugliness. It is a word that they wished was gone forever, but it is a word that Ben and Anna may hear sometimes from very ignorant people. It is a word that Mommy and Daddy will not accept ever hearing from either of them.
That night, as Mommy and Daddy talked about the visit, they decided that if Ben and Anna had to be exposed to such ugliness, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center was probably the place to introduce it. At least there the word could be put into context.
It is hard to believe that it has been over forty years since April 4. It seems like ancient history to Ben and Anna, who cannot imagine ever treating someone differently because of the color of their skin. Ben and Anna made Mommy and Daddy proud this weekend, and gave them great hope for the future.
The new visitor's center is very well done, with pictures, sculpture, and historical video from the times. The video pulled no punches and showed graphic depictions of the ugliness of segregation. Ben and Anna had a lot of questions that were very hard to explain.
"What does discrimination mean?"
"Why were those people so angry?"
"Why didn't they just tell the police?"
At times, Daddy was too choked up from the video scenes and questions to answer without taking a breath first.
However, the hardest question of call (at least for Mommy and Daddy) was explaining to Ben and Anna - for the first time - what the "N" word was. The historical videos showed what looked like respectable people using that vile word casually. It was on the signs that people were carrying in the pictures. It is not a word that Ben and Anna have ever heard or seen before.
Mommy and Daddy explained that this was a disgusting word that they will not ever use. It is a word full of hate and ugliness. It is a word that they wished was gone forever, but it is a word that Ben and Anna may hear sometimes from very ignorant people. It is a word that Mommy and Daddy will not accept ever hearing from either of them.
That night, as Mommy and Daddy talked about the visit, they decided that if Ben and Anna had to be exposed to such ugliness, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center was probably the place to introduce it. At least there the word could be put into context.
It is hard to believe that it has been over forty years since April 4. It seems like ancient history to Ben and Anna, who cannot imagine ever treating someone differently because of the color of their skin. Ben and Anna made Mommy and Daddy proud this weekend, and gave them great hope for the future.
# posted by Scott @ 2/14/2011 04:52:00 PM 
