A week ago, as I write this, we visited the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama. It’s also known as the “Lynching Memorial,” which gives a clearer idea of the emotional impact of time spent there. The main part of the memorial is a covered square area surrounding an open courtyard. Walking through the space, you are surrounded by hundreds of six-foot-long steel rectangular structures — coffin-like — suspended from the ceiling and etched with the names and locations of each of the 4,000+ doubly-documented victims of lynchings in our country since the time of the Civil War. It is unspeakably powerful.
Upon walking further, outside the covered area, the metallic monuments are reproduced, row upon row on the grounds, again like so many coffins. If you walk down such a row, away from a bright sun, you might notice glints of light reflecting from these structures. Close attention reveals that the light is not reflecting from the surface of these boxes, but from within, having entered this darkest of places through the engraved names and locations of those individuals who are memorialized. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:5)
Our week was full of such clashing images. It is difficult to dwell on the sights of the Memorial, or the balcony where Martin Luther King, Jr. breathed his last, or the Edmund Pettus Bridge. But it is equally heartening to hear the stories of students learning in new schools, homes and businesses being supported, and financial institutions partnering with individuals and community stakeholders to bring about positive change.
Millenia ago, Israel returned to Jerusalem from Babylon. They heard from Isaiah that they needed to “let the oppressed go free, and break every yoke” (Is 58:6) and that if they did that, “Those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins; you will raise up the age-old foundations; and you will be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of the streets in which to dwell.”
I am grateful to have heard and seen so many “Repairers of the Breach” this past week.
Doug Michael | June 14, 2023
Doug Michael attended the inaugural Deep South Investors Tour with Faith and Money Network, hosted by Hope Credit Union, in June 2023.