“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Martin Luther King, Jr.
We began 2019 with our Semester at Sea experience of sailing the ocean to visit 10 countries in four months. The GOGlobalSW blog shared this amazing experience and how we solidified our commitment to global citizenship. The GOGlobalSW blog will continue to be a space for sharing our journey.
Traveling at “Home”
We have a travel goal to visit all 50 states. Recently, we had an opportunity to travel in the U.S. South. We’ve lived in Kentucky for over 30 years and lived in Georgia for a few years in the 1990s. We’ve traveled extensively in the southern states, except for Arkansas.
We were curious about how our recent travels to other parts of the world would affect our experience of travel in our home country. Also, we were feeling conflicted, because all our destinations had recently passed legislation that restricted women’s rights to reproductive health. To offset our travels there, we committed to increase our donations to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Planned Parenthood; continue political advocacy; and support candidates who represent our values.
Road Trip: Memphis, TN; Jackson, MS; New Orleans, LA; & Birmingham, AL
The impetus for this trip was a professional conference in New Orleans, LA. We’d be presenting on a book we co-authored with Jay Miller. We decided to take a Road Trip, rather than fly. Although we have visited Tennessee many times, we’d never made it to Memphis. And, we wanted to visit friends, along the way.
We left late morning on June 3rd and arrived in Memphis that evening. In addition to a fun dinner with a former student and wonderful social worker, here are highlights. In our three day-stay, we ate at 4 different BBQ/Ribs places. The One and Only BBQ is our fave: unique and robust flavors! We walked along the famous Beale Street and made the requisite pilgrimage to Graceland to say “Thank you very much” to Elvis.
The Civil Rights Museum was the most impactful part of our visit to Memphis and we highly recommend it. The museum is housed in the Lorraine Motel, where Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated. The impressive and informative displays provide powerful documentation of the scourge of slavery, and the courage of the Abolitionist Movement and Civil Rights Movement. The museum is not merely a static record of history, though, it is an organic testament to the need for continued activism.
Then, June 5th, we left for Jackson, MS for an overnight stay. We’d visited Mississippi on other travels. So, our main purpose in Jackson was to have dinner with an old friend, Sheree, whom we had not seen in a couple of decades. Our gracious server, Coretta, said to us, “I’m so glad ya’ll got to talk. You’d really missed each other.”
The next morning, we drove to New Orleans for The Teaching Professor conference, a nerd-fest with other educators. We’ve been to New Orleans several times—the music, food, and distinct culture of the city is worth the trip. This visit, the Gay Pride parade went right by our hotel and was a celebratory reminder of progress made—even in the South.
After the 3-day conference, we drove up through Alabama, stopping overnight in Birmingham to have dinner with another old friend, Angela. The following day we headed home to Casa de Paz. Seeing our friends along the way and experiencing the “Sweet Tea” friendliness of the South made the trip especially enjoyable. And, it was a reminder that good people reside all around the world.
Observations through a Global Lens
On this road trip, we reflected on how the rest of the world might see this area of the world. In her book, Americanah, Chimamanda Adichie ruminates on whether the changes she sees when returning to her birthplace of Nigeria are changes in the locale or in herself. Travel changes us—and, thus, the places to which we return.
Particularly in Birmingham, we were reminded of our Southern Baptist roots, as the denomination’s annual conference was being held there. The convention was confronted by brave members (and former) about the insidious sexual abuse and harassment in the denomination. This outcry was juxtaposed with the denominational leadership continuing to dither about whether women should be “allowed” to preach. The Southern Baptist religion has an indelible imprint and impact on the South. The incredible sexism (and racism and homophobia) that this religion fosters—and festers—is married (incestuously!) to the politics of the South.
On this road trip, we saw many beautiful green spaces. We enjoyed the conveniences of our travel: stopping for Starbucks, staying in air-conditioned hotels with amenities. We noticed many consumeristic things, different from most of our travels around the globe: Ubiquity of televisions (Ugh! noise!); valuing of quick and big over quality—big highways, big billboards, big servings, quick service, lotsa crappy stuff; and PLASTIC!
Perhaps because of being newly sensitized by the Civil Rights Museum and deeply affected by our travels in Africa, especially the slave market in Ghana, one observation was stark: The people in service roles (food, hospitality, housekeeping, etc.) were almost exclusively black and the people being served were predominantly white. People in the service sector are usually not paid a living wage nor provided adequate benefits, such as health care and vacation.
The definition of a structural ism is that a system is operating in such as manner that a particular group of people are harmed, disenfranchised, lessened—systematically. The observation above documents that structural racism keeps many people of color in servitude. This indicator is one of myriad ways that structural racism permeates our country—and in particular ways in the South.
Today, we reflect on the meaning of Juneteenth—the U.S. celebration of black independence from slavery. We are discouraged and, yet, determined. Led by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, Juneteenth, 2019, the U.S. government is being specifically called upon to proactively provide reparations for slavery. These reparations are necessary for the soul of the U.S. and for moving forward constructively and justly.
Actually, these reparations need to extend to the African countries from whom humans were enslaved and resources extracted. As we saw in our travels, the tentacles of this history have enduring negative consequences for these countries. How do we, the global community, pursue reparation? We don’t have all the answers; but, asking these critical questions is necessary and right.
As we mentioned in a previous blog, the U.S. has more true diversity than perhaps any other country in the world. We hope and commit to continue to work toward the real possibility of that diversity being accessed, fostered, and celebrated in ways that are just and exponentially positive for the world.
