At the old historic courthouse

Yesterday, I got the chance to visit the historic courthouse in downtown St.Louis where in 1846 Dred Scott and his wife, Harriett, sued their owner Irene for freedom from slavery. It is impossible to describe the feelings that rushed through me as I walked the halls and climbed the stairs and sat in the rooms of that courthouse. This was the exact building, changed so very little, where those two individuals had to stand trial, waiting and expecting for a verdict regarding the state of their humanity. Hearing the details of and reading the information about that infamous case scared me, and saddened me -- how could such a thing happen, I wondered. Human beings considered as chattel, as property to be carried from city to city, from town to town as if they were a piece of luggage. It hurt my chest just thinking about it -- I couldn't help but think that we might be in danger of regressing back into that time and place and mindset once again...

Ironic, isn't it, that less than a mile way stands a 630 feet arch built as a "gateway" symbolize America's westward expansion, to represent our nation's forward-thinking development, a veritable symbol of our progression toward the west, a reminder of our strength, courage, and endurance as a nation of diversity and resilience.

How sad that the little courthouse stands, to this day, as a historic landmark of our infamy, our narrow-mindedness, our arrogance, our greed, our pride, our disrepect of and disregard for our fellow human beings.

May we learn our lessons well, and may we never, ever forget them.