Her name was Elizabeth Eckford.  She wanted to go to school.  These people didn’t want her to.

It’s 1957 in Little Rock, Arkansas in the United States.  See the hate in the woman dead centre in the picture.  Elizabeth hears the taunts.  She keeps going.  There’s momentum in courage.

Usually people exclude each other quietly.  Not returning e-mails.  Averting the gaze.  Not continuing a conversation that the other one had started.  It’s just as violent as the crowd in 1957.

Too many of us look in the mirror, see a certain variety of human being and see the image as the “gold standard” for humanity.  “You should be like me.”  Except I’m often not.  I’m remarkably like me.

I wonder if Elizabeth is still alive.  I’ll look her up on Google.

…

She is!

Still a civil rights activist at age 82

Lots more walking in her future