On a recent trip to Charleston, South Carolina, dear friends gave us a “grand tour” of the city and the the surrounding area. We took in as many sights and tastes of this historic city as we could pack into our three day stay. The culture, architecture, food and beaches were impressive. Our friends took the time to share their insight into their new home state with us.
One interest we share with them is history and especially how a place is shaped by it. A trip to a plantation and and a narrated carriage ride through the old streets of Charleston brought the enslaved African-Americans role in the construction of this southern community to a stark and tangible reality for me.
Despite the fact that most of the buildings and streets we saw were constructed of the bricks made by the enslaved, only one very small monument to that dark history was present as a memorial. Near a church yard our guides pointed out a slight brick tower mounted by a small black sculpture of an bird with a stone on it’s back. Based on an old African tale of a blackbird whose troubles were symbolized by a stone, the sculpture depicted the bird reaching backwards to toss it’s burden aside. It is a powerful image suggesting that one can overcome oppression and darkness with courage and persistence. I have not been able to get the image of the small bird and it’s stone, and the feelings that it evoked, out of my mind.
Hatred, racism, fear, greed, envy, despair and poverty are all stones one might bear. When we see and feel their hardness, we as one community can find the courage to toss them away.
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