Slaves and the U.S. Capitol

Next week, a plaque will be placed at the U.S. Capitol, honoring those slaves who built it. How different this response is from the last time I visited the Capitol about this issue.

In June 2001, I along with a number of others involved with Connecting Communities, went to Washington. Our mission was a simple one: we washed the steps of this great monument to freedom, ironically built by those who were anything but. We had speakers and the like, before we, brushes in hand, symbolically washed away the sweat and tears of those slaves. It was a powerful moment, made even more so by the reaction of a guard and some other visitors, who ridiculed our work. I recall being overcome with emotion as I thought of the men who had toiled to build this monument: their own freedom was probably never far from their minds.

All these years later, I still have that brush. And all these years later, I am reminded of how far we’ve come – and how far we have to go – in dealing with the issue of slavery and its impact on our society. Recognition, 217 years later, is better than no recognition at all, I guess.