Traveling in a foreign city is a difficult task on its own, but when you are traveling with eleven other people and you’re solely responsible for the day’s activities it can be quite daunting. As I sit in the back of our bus contemplating the day’s events Little Rock, I would like to think that I accomplished this task in to some extent.
While it’s still fresh on my mind, I can’t help but think about the evening worship service that we attended at Awareness Center International in the city. The music played during praise and worship was enough to evoke joy from the dullest congregation. At moments I questioned whether I was at church or a rock concert because of the energy, but the honesty in what the worship team was doing assured me that it shouldn’t be mistaken for a simple performance. One of the main things we all agreed on about the church was that it was clearly genuine and that people were very intentional about the type of community that they have developed. There were two separate parts of service where we stopped worship in order hug someone, and it was great because it reminded us of “what a real hug actually felt like,” according to someone in the group. Although there were moments that challenged us, we ultimately left service having observed a special type of community taking place there.
This reminds me of the community I found us building as we sat down to eat a meal at Kitchen Express early that day. In looking for the restaurant there were some concerns about the neighborhood that we were driving through because of the un-manicured lawns and boarded up homes, but Kitchen Express served as an oasis in the desert for us. Within minutes we were in line ordering the widest variety of soul food that most of us had ever seen: chicken (fried and baked), okra, macaroni and cheese, collard greens, banana pudding, and peach cobbler. And although the food looked as good as it tasted, the beauty of the moment was in our sharing of our food. We hadn’t even been together for three days yet, and we were already eating each other’s food and talking about our experiences from earlier that day. We briefly touched on Heifer International’s grand opening of its new educational building, and how we might apply our developing knowledge on social theory to understand its cultural significance in Little Rock. We also lighted on the Clinton Presidential Library, remarking how former President Clinton serves as an icon for Little Rock similar to how Elvis Presley and Graceland serve as icons for Memphis.
But I think that ultimately, the highlight of everyone’s day, especially mine, was our visit to the Central High School Museum and the actual school campus. There was so much to take in that several needed to take a break from time to time. The site does a great job on educating it’s patrons on why the Little Rock Nine of Central High School were so historically significant and also the importance of fighting for the rights of every marginalized group, and not just blacks. As I watched a video of Elizabeth Eckford walking to school while surrounded by an angry mob, I couldn’t imagine what it must have been like to be berated for simply wanting to have a better life situation. When we walked around the actual campus later, I think we all were overwhelmed by the contrast between the physical beauty of the campus and the dark story that still haunts its past, like a monster lurking stealthily still throughout the corridors.
Standing right in front of Central with flights of stairs winding up on each side of me, I tried to summon the emotion that Ernest, Terrence, Elizabeth and the rest must have felt that day, and it was bittersweet to realize that I might never experience an event that was so dangerous in my life. I can’t help but appreciate their courage, because they helped to make a way for myself and every other black student in America. I appreciate them because they were true pioneers, traveling each of those days in familiar territory that was made unfamiliar by the mask of hatred. They were Academic Pioneers. And as I sat with my group of colleagues on the balcony area of the building posing for a picture, I realized that we too are pioneers. We too will be traveling in sometimes unfamiliar territory. We probably won’t ever be in as much danger on this trip as the Little Rock Nine were back then, but we are ready to stand up for the things we believe in, like this trip, and more importantly because of such august precedents, we have hope. Hope. Above all, we decided that the city of Little Rock is conveying a message of hope, and we’ll take it with us along the way.