The Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, AL

Greetings,

My name is Jalen Juwaun Toombs-Williams and I and one of the youth at Project HIP-HOP where Farai Williams is our artistic director. This is my second year participating in the summer program but my first year on the Civil Rights Trip. I go to Zion Bible College and I am studying Music and Worship. This summer we have been studying economic justice.

I am writing about the experience at the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama. There are two parts to the memorial - a circle with the names of all the people who died in the movement and the major accomplishments of the movement. Then there is a big wall with a quote from Martin Luther King Jr. saying “Until Justice Rolls Down like Water and Righteousness like a Mighty Stream”. There is water flowing down over the circle and over the wall and people come to the memorial and lay there hands in the water, sometimes they even pray. We went there to celebrate the life of the people who fought for equality and freedom.

The Civil Rights Memorial is a monument for 40 people who died between 1954 and 1968. It was effective because it taught me about the people who I may not have known fought for our freedom and equality as a people. It showed me how important it is to be learning about my heritage and history. The quote meant to me that they will not stop fighting “until Justice rolls Down like Water and Righteousness like a Mighty Stream”. We, even though we are young should be fighting and learning about this and I am grateful to have been a part of the trip today to know what people of the past have done to affect my present.

Thank for your time reading this and I pray that you have a blessed life..

Jalen Williams

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