Roots

The theme for this trip is “Returning to our Roots.” When I saw this at our introductory meeting a few months ago, I didn’t fully grasp the theme. Am I really returning to MY roots? Until these past few days, I’ve always assumed that the Civil Rights Movement is a history integral to African American roots. I assumed I was going to be a passive observer to someone else’s history this week.

Watching videos of the horrendous acts against African Americans, listening to the courage and conviction in Dr. King’s speeches, and sitting in the sanctuary where Dr. King preached countless times made me realize that this trip isn’t just about my African American brothers and sisters returning to their roots, it’s about me returning to mine as well. The history of Civil Rights and racism in our country is not just an evil against my African American neighbors, it’s an evil against me. If it is true that we are the Body of Christ, then just as a wounded arm impacts the entire body, so too does inequality infect all humankind.

“We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.” -Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

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