a mighty long way

Day 9: Almost home

/ Tracy Abell

We got up at 5:30 this morning, Uppsala time, and just barely caught the-bus-we-thought-was-a-train (when we purchased the tickets yesterday) to Arlanda Airport in Stockholm. From there we flew to Amsterdam. After promising that all checked luggage was our own and that no one had asked us to bring anything on the plane, we got on a packed plane. Our flight to Minneapolis took 7+ hours. Once in the airport, I got busted by the agricultural-sniffing dog for carrying an orange across the ocean. I relinquished the citrus and then we had to re-check our bags and go through security again because, you know, we could’ve spent that 7+ –hour flight filling our shoes with knives. We’re now sitting in a bar/restaurant, drinking local craft beer and eating fries while we wait for our flight to Denver.

It’s already been a loooong day, and there’s still miles to go.

Here’s a somewhat appropriate image from our last day in Stockholm:

Almost home.

.

A Mighty Long Way

/ Tracy Abell / 6 Comments

               

At the risk of losing friends who are already overwhelmed by their TBR piles
(hello,  !), I’m going to share thoughts on one more book: 

A MIGHTY LONG WAY: My Journey to Justice at Little Rock Central High School
By Carlotta Walls LaNier.

This is one woman’s personal account of her experiences as part of
the "Little Rock Nine," and while I thought I was fully aware of what
it was like during desegregation of the south, this book proved otherwise.

For instance, I did not know the students had their own personal military
guards to escort them through the halls.  And that despite the armed protection,
ignorant, racist teenagers still spit on the black students and knocked their books to the floor.

It was painful reading the cruel details of what those brave children and their
families endured in Arkansas, but it’s essential to our progress as a nation that
we acknowledge the specifics.  I’m ashamed I never took the time to fully research
those events.

The "Little Rock Nine" took their historic steps in 1957, but here we are in 2010
with more of the same ignorance and racism directed toward Obama and the Black
Congressional Caucus.  We can either weep, or fight back.

I encourage everyone to read A MIGHTY LONG WAY and to share it with your children.
Ignorance of our past will only lead to more injustice.