Sacrifices

Throughout this trip, a word that has stuck with me is sacrifice. In the museums we have been to such as the International Civil Rights Museum and Center for Civil and Human Rights. There is always a exhibit that honors the people who died during the movement including a short biography of the person and how they were killed. In these spaces, I felt the most emotional because I think it’s easier to ignore the tragedy of a premature death when you just see the person’s name. However, looking at the faces of the people who were killed makes it clear that these were people who had been brothers or sisters, sons or daughters, mothers or fathers which brought me back to the word sacrifice. This is a word that is sometimes hard to understand when I’m getting scolded by my mother for not appreciating the privileges I have but to see these pictures and watching these movies and read these stories about the people who participated made me understand what she means.

Today, when Kirk Carrington spoke to us about youth not valuing the sacrifice people made for us during the movement I felt it was justified. It made me defensive, too, of course but once I put that feeling aside and tried to understand his perspective, I could see his point. During the movement, there were a lot of people who died fighting for equality not just for them but also for future generations to come. That is something I feel like I take for granted a lot, similar to my peers who spoke on it in the group discussion. I realize through learning more about the Civil Right Movement and the people who gave their lives to the cause, I am more conscious of the past and motivated to devote myself to social justice.

Jessica Dough, Hope High School