Segregation forever? I provide a fascinating link below to a Newsweek photo exhibit which traces segregation then and now through pictures. It tells of our nation's sad story on race during the mid-20th century, a era of profound segregation. It prompted me, to write a little bit on this Achilles heal of our nation.

After you click on the link below, simply click on each individual picture which has a description to the left of it.

I wrote:


When one thinks nothing much has changed simply view those pictures. They are worth a thousand words. I was a little white girl in the 1950's and raised in a mostly white (at that time) Boston suburb. I remember our high school class elections when a black woman was running for president. She said to me that she would never win because she was, as she put it then, a Negro. I was astounded that she would make such a statement. I thought about that continuously for many years and when I looked back I, of course, sadly realized she was absolutely right. I think even then, though, I knew she was right but I simply did not want to realize that would be true in the country I loved. Much has been accomplished since that time nearly 35 years ago, but, I believe, we still have a long way to go.

There is, I think, something, perhaps, which is woven into our genetic tapestry to resist those who are not a member of our group. Perhaps it dates to the origin of man. We, hopefully, as years go by and decades pass will know that we are one species -- homo sapiens -- and that all of us, each and every one, can trace his or her lineage to Africa. We must learn to live together if we are all to survive together. I hope I see that in my lifetime.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/94787