The pictures don't even tell the half of it...

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]Today was the first day for the Civil Rights Trip. I woke up at 3am and got ready, I was so excited that my tiredness didn't effect me at all. Our first location was the International Civil Rights Museum in North Carolina. The ride was long but definitely worth it, our tour guide was great. It was just a struggle when she would describe certain things very bluntly it made it hard to focus because it brought a lot of thoughts and emotions out of me. Which is maybe the reason she worded and described things the way that she did. A lot of the time when people think about Civil Rights they think about the actions of the victim and how bold they were to endure against their oppressor but often we can't even fathom the pain and emotion and things that they saw when they were being mistreated (and mistreated is an understatement). Like to even imagine being in Emmett Till's place and the pain that he felt; the pictures don't even tell the half of it  because people will never know the pain and thoughts that went through his mind at fourteen years old being beaten to death in the most brutal of ways. We like to think that times have changed and yes this is true but we still have to reach farther. We are only sixty-five years away from when the incident happened, there are still people alive that lived during that time and there are still people around that have the same cold hearts as the men that did the monstrous acts to Emmett Till. Until the world comes to the realization that we are all truly equal and that everyone is human in the words of Maya Angelou we will finally allow the wall to fall and make a bridge for us all to cross together. When I think about the Civil Rights Movement and everything that my people have been through it reminds me that every social group has gone through trials and tribulations that they had to endure as a people, but until we learn how to all fight for the purpose together than how much will this world accomplish, how much will humanity accomplish? We were all put here on this Earth to love one another, how will humanity ever change if we keep trying to go through life hating one another?

 -Naomi Peppers

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