color lines

Despite the absurdity of the previous post, I've actually been pretty serious the past couple days but unable to articulate anything that would be worth sharing.

I've been having really good conversations the past couple days, grappling with history and its implications. I think part of this was actually doing MLK-related things the past couple days instead of treating it as another day off just like Memorial Day or Labor Day where you really don't think about the meaning at all and use it to sleep in.

Watching my roommate play in the orchestra and thinking about how someone like Nina Simone could be rejected from a conservatory because of discrimination just a few decades ago. Looking at the exhibits at the Western Reserve Historical Society with some friends, seeing flyers protesting segregation and photos of people marching in the streets. Me and the roommate were talking last night about how all these problems are still here, but we don't say as much and had no sufficient answers. We talked about how we wanted to sacrifice the way that others before us have, but we're not sure how. A friend of mine wonders today why Michael Vick got such a bad rap but all those police who used attack dogs and fire hoses to harm people are let off the hook.

In the meantime, we are praying, living out our lives with the love of God, and taking steps in the right direction every chance we get, trying to pull each other up instead of complaining or dragging each other down. When I watched Obama's speech, I wasn't inspired the way Hollywood people were, but I did feel like I've been on the right track with the decisions I've been making and the way I choose to live my life. I know that I'm not perfect and there's a lot I need to learn and so much that needs to be done.

Those days weren't that far away from us, and I am thankful that we value each other for who we are and not where we came from or where we grew up. I am thankful that we haven't let the loaded connotations of our local geography get in the way of us hanging out, because otherwise I'd be missing out on so many beautiful and amazing things like this summer photo from last year that I took on one of our graffiti adventures.