Some buildings in the South still retain the word "Colored." Colored water fountains. Colored bathrooms. Colored entrances. Colored etchings of a bygone day. Even if we removed painful words carved into our buildings, we could not remove the painful experiences carved into our history. In a perfect world, we use the past to close the gap between what has been promised by our lofty ideals and what is delivered by our collective actions. Perhaps Barack O'Bama as president will help close that gap, a racial gap that exists, no matter how you color it. No pun intended.
Below are two pictures of the Washington Monument, one from 1861 and one from today. On the picture of the completed Washington Monument, notice that about 1/3 of the way up the obelisk, the color of the monument changes. Construction of the monument was halted in 1861 at the beginning of the Civil War because all assets, human and material, were required to fight the Confederacy and preserve the Union. After the war, construction on the monument began again, only the stones were mined from a different location; thus the different color.
Additionally, before the Civil War, the monument was built primarily by slaves, bonded men building a memorial to the slave-owning Father of His Country, George Washington. After the Civil War, assets were freed to continue construction on the monument, but the remainder of the monument was built by freed men, black and white. Much like our nation. The monument reflects the painful division of our nation, no doubt, but it also reflects the mighty power of unity and the strength of diversity.
What color are your bricks?
