How to "counter" Racism

This week was the first week of the International Civil Rights Museum.

Located in the original Woolworth store where four North Carolina A&T students started a sit-in, it was the museum's first week

after it grand opening. On of my mother's fellow church member's works

there and invited us on the weekend tour.

The tour began as most would: A guide introducing what was going one in the

world at the time and showing us a transparent American flag that revealed

jim-crow artifacts.

Among the artifacts was a Klanman outfit. I can't mention any faster how

much of a historical gold mine this suit is. Think about it: how many

people are willing to donate a piece of their racists pasts? After oggling

the sheet, the group moved onto the next room, collaged with images of

church bomong victims, MLK jr. and other marching photos. One of the phots

on the walls depicted a victim from a Burmingham church bombing. If you

looked at her out of context you would 've thought the picture was taken in

a war-torn african country. She was laid in a hospital bed with the sheet

bundled up to her shoulders. Her burned eyes covered by square bandages.

As the group moved on, the guide began telling the story of the four

students from A&T. Using a room that held some of the original Dorm

furniture from the time, the group was treated to a projected reinatement

film courtesy of the contemporary A&T Drama Club. The first detail that

caught my attention was her mention of their ages in college: 17. My mother

was the same age her freshman year and that started my mind working. What

was going on back then that had 17 year olds in college? What was wrong

with the educational system today that 17 year old high school seniors were

now more rare? I came back to my thought about the students ages in

college, I asked my mother why so many kids were younger than 18 by the

time they were college freshmen. According to my mother, such an occurance

was typical but eventually some students were found to be emotionally

unprepared so policies were put in place that set a 6 month line

requirement, before . I knew they did that for kindergarderners with late

birthdays but this was a revelation for me.

By the time my mind left that thought for the moment, the group had moved

to the preserved wooloworth's food counter where the students made their

sit-in. Not having seen a genuine counter establishment, I expected

something smaller or more in tune to the Counters of a Silver Diner.

However, this counter stretched from one wall to the next connecting wall

and covered what I think were 25 stools. As for those stools, We saw green

and salmon covers, which werenot originally ther. The guide told us they

were repaced after the original black covers began to wear. Two of the

intact seats are in the smithsonian.

After the counter display, we moved on to another section, which was again

more or less historical items that represented Jim Crow and Black

achievements during said time. There were some artifacts that leaned

towards the absurd side of white supremacy, like a double sided Coca-Cola

Machine. One side had a 5 cent label while the other side had a 10 cent

label covering a 6 cent label. Guess which side was for "Coloreds"? Across

from that Machine was a old Plaque from one of the department stores.

According to it's information, the restroom for colored men and colored

women were on the lower level with the White men's restroom. What was

peculiar was the white women's restroom which was all the way on the way on

the second floor. After thinking about it for a while I think they planned

this so that white women could stay as far away from black patrons as

possible while the white male patrons could keep an eye on them. Once again

Racism is a strange thing. The most unusual item was a small pistol which

displayed old legal papers once owned by . Even the tour guide didn't know

why it was there.

I should point out by now that through the collages on the wall, Jesse

Jackson's picture would show up more than one could ignore. Well, he's

there because he attended A&T like the four sit-in guys. As a matter of

Fact, the displays included people who either attended A&T or were from

Greensboro. I mean this IS a local museum, but they kept a lot of focus on

national history, even ending the tour on a display about other groups

throughout the world who fight the same injustices. After the tour my mom

and I went down the street for lunch. At a Diner. At their lunch counter.