Usually I regret not being able to consistently make images larger. There is often detail that is left out in a smaller image and that becomes larger in the magnified version. Not so much the case here. So why include a sign that is painful to read and remember. Several reasons really, most are covered better by other folks. Me, I'm sharing this because of a story I was told two weeks ago.
I was talking about the era of our parade & jamaica - 1946-1955 - highlighting the positive accomplishments of the era.
The person I was talking with shared a story from his youth in Texas. Turns out that as a little boy he accompanied his mom to town. While there they ran into one of her comadres and he made it clear he had to go the bathroom. His mom was not aware of the guidelines of the time in that town and started toward the bathroom marked "White". The comadre let her know she could not take him there and so she started toward the door marked "Colored". Again the comadre let her know that she couldn't use that door. The mom asked the comadre, "Well, then where do we go?", to which the comadre replied, "We don't".
Years later I could see the pain in the man's eyes as he remembered his childhood lesson on place and position. And we didn't say a word but knew that were it not for the efforts by all in the Golden Age of Mendez v. Westminster, of Brown v. Board, Hernandez v. Texas, we would not be standing in a hallway where we have a voice in how our government is run and how our history can be shared.
Image - http://www.pbs.org/itvs/fightfields/timeline.html
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