I have a guest blogger for this issue….my husband, Michael Jaunese.  Please enjoy.

 

THE IMPORTANCE OF HISTORY, GOOD, BAD, OR OTHERWISE

As we, once again, approach the anniversary of one of the most significant dates in our history; let me relate a story of a young lady, seventeen years of age, and the impact learning of it had on her.

As the thirty-fifth anniversary was approaching, a documentary aired on television. This young lady sat, transfixed, on the floor in front of the television. She would not turn her gaze from the television because her tears were streaming down her face and onto the floor where she was sitting.

After the documentary concluded, without saying a word, she went to the kitchen table, took out pen and paper, and began to write. Her thoughts became written words, and those written words mingled with the tears that stained the paper upon which they were written.

She said, “I know that you told me what conditions were like at that time, but I simply could not believe that what you were saying could possibly be true.”

When I had the opportunity to read her words, I, too, was moved to tears.

Here is what she wrote, and the simple title that prompts the readers to research for themselves what brought out such emotions.

 September 25, 1957©

 The words are dark,

Rapid, relentless.
They come from all around.
They stab; they gash.

They dissolve pride with the power of acid.

Simple words
Evil words
The speakers have no shame;
No remorse.

They belittle, torment, and damn.

They don’t see the wrong.
Words alone have no physical repercussion.
Instead, they kill from the inside out.
Their ignorance is the padlock on their minds,
And they alone hold the key that can open it.

The wounded suffer in silence.

Instructed not to respond
and never to look back.

The tears come in private
Falling like endless summer rain;
Streaming down cheeks
And washing over their hearts
giving them the strength to face another day.

Another day of the same immeasurable hell

While all the while their heart and soul cries out, “Why?
Why must it be this way?
Why can’t they see me with their hearts and not their eyes?”

They were pioneers.

They paid a price I will never truly be able to fathom
For a reward they have never truly received.

                                                                                                            —Holly Jaunese

As the father of this remarkable young lady, I cannot be more proud of the importance that she has placed on our history, as a country, and how it has shaped and molded her into the woman she has become.

 

 

 

 

 

Her words honor the following nine individuals:

Ernest Green (b. 1941), Elizabeth Eckford (b. 1941), Jefferson Thomas (1942–2010), Terrence Roberts (b. 1941), Carlotta Walls LaNier (b. 1942), Minnijean Brown (b. 1941), Gloria Ray Karlmark (b. 1942), Thelma Mothershed (b. 1940), and Melba Pattillo Beals (b. 1941).

To learn more about the Little Rock Nine: https://www.arkansas.com/attractions/central-high/