Gratitude Leftovers Part I

Some of my favorite foods are spaghetti, pizza, pound cake and fried chicken. Not only do these foods taste yummy, they also double as super-yummy leftovers! My theory is that’s because a) the flavors have time to settle and b) I wasn’t responsible for cooking the dish this time around.

Exactly two weeks ago, I had the esteemed experience and privilege of testifying before the Tennessee Legislature’s Unsolved Civil Rights Crimes Special Committee about the lynching of my great grand uncle and voting rights activist Elbert Williams and its effect on subsequent generations of my family. To see the video, click here. 

This and the featured photo were taken by Rep. Tilman Goins of Nashville, TN. Pictured are me with Attorney Alex Little testifying in front. Background (l-r) Betsy Phillips, Nashville Scene; ??, co-chair of Racial Reconciliation Committee; Nuri Ansari, son of Elijah Davis; and John Ashworth, Historian and Project Manager for the Lynching Sites Project of Memphis

Today, I have been reflecting and appreciating events that happened a couple weeks ago. Out of the moment and back at home, I am able to recount the amazing details–without all the anxiety and emotions I experienced that day.  With so much going on, personally and nationally, I am grateful for this moment of sweet reflection. No matter what happens in the future, I feel like my Uncle Elbert, and my ancestors — as well as the ancestors of the others who testified, have been given a voice. It may not be justice, but it is a start. It kind of feels like leftovers.

“Love was not specified in the design of your brain; it is merely an endearing algorithm that freeloads on the leftover processing cycles.”
? David Eagleman, Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives