Last week in Little Rock, I took my teenage son and my nephew through the Central High museum viewing the artifacts and hearing the stories of a world so unlike their own as to be unrecognizable: a world of separate schools, water fountains, restaurants, and theaters, all legally and socially enforced; of cruelty and visceral hatred; of the mistreatment and abuse of children because of the color of their skin; of a world in which injustice and unfairness were normative.
To visit Little Rock Central High School is to see the pain of the past, the depth to which ordinary people can sink when hatred and self-righteousness take deep roots in human hearts. But to visit there is also to see that transformations take place; hearts and minds can be changed; and redemption is real. We've all seen the photo of Elizabeth Eckford, wearing dark glasses to hide the tears in her eyes, while an angry mob of her white peers follows her threateningly. An angry young girl is on her heels, yelling at Elizabeth with an expression of intense hatred. A child of God who has allowed herself to be a channel for invective and evil. But if you go to the gift shop in the museum you can purchase a small print of Elizabeth Eckford 40 years later standing in front of Central HS with a white woman, and both are smiling. Inset in the bottome corner is that same black and white photo from 1957. The larger image those many years later after that angry young white woman grew to adulthood and repented of her misdeeds. She called Elizabeth and asked to see her to seek her forgiveness. One word graces the bottom of the print, and it's a beautiful word: Reconciliation.
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