This City

Well, for fear of having to write yet another "this is what I've done with my life in the last two weeks" post, I'm sitting myself down to write something. Because if I wait until next wednesday that might just become the title. Not okay.

My life becomes much less interesting when I'm home. Let me rephrase that. Not less interesting. I just have less to report. This is weird to me because when I'm at school, I can't stop looking forward to home. I guess I don't write because time flies when you're having fun. No, that can't be it, because I have a blast at school, too. I can't even know. Maybe God wasn't kidding when He told me He had some things to teach me in Virginia. I think the real problem is that I get lazy at home. But I can't really imagine that He doesn't have some stuff for me to learn here.

Let me introduce you to here.

If you know me, you probably already know a lot about my immediate surroundings-- the friends, the family and the usual. Of course I love them. But I have to say that I have a deepening pride in Little Rock.

This might be best evidenced by the fact that I chose the Little Rock Nine as my mini-thesis topic. I learned a lot about my city in that research. A lot of stuff that is hard to be proud of. But goodness is highlighted in absolute times of hatred. I didn't get to focus on that good in my paper, you see, because that wasn't really the direction my professor was necessarily headed. Good and bad are just too relative to write a paper on. But a blog post? Perfect.

In the fallout of the crisis, some people spoke up against segregation because they felt it was morally wrong. Some pointed to the fact that the spectacle, which was Little Rock in the years following the Central High Crisis, made the city extremely unattractive for business-- and it's true, the economy at the time plummeted. Which was not a cool thing given that in the years following WWII, Arkansas' income was only half of the national average. A good many people couldn't afford shoes, thus the stereotype that we southerners don't ever wear shoes. All of this is to say that it was a big deal that Little Rock circa 1957 was climbing the economic ladder and beginning to compete with other major southern cities. It was an even bigger deal that after the national guard had to come to escort nine schoolkids into their classrooms, this city fell off that ladder. So a lot of people were motivated by money. Others were sick of the attention. A good many just wanted to go back to school-- hard to do since Governor Faubas shut down all public schools for the 58-59 term. Great.

The crisis ended not in terms of good and bad, but of profitable verses non-profitable.

Schools reopened because segregation was bad for business, not because people all of the sudden learned how to love people. Clearly, all of the issues weren't dealt with then. And racism is still a problem, I believe, because we think everyone got on the same page with the whole "racism=bad" thing. Certainly the "segregation=bad" thing got covered. But racism is a heart issue that can't be measured by profit and spreadsheets. Each and every person deals with it differently in different places and at different times. Most agree it's bad, but go on to observe racism or exercise it to some extent. We've come a long way to get to this point of defining racism as bad. Truly. Kuddos to us. But recognizing it as such and fixing it are two different things.

Little Rock became famous because it was among the first cities to acknowledge segregation as wrong (or to take the Supreme Court's word on it) and move to fix it in a generally unsupportive environment. It is a physical, historic example of that progression. But that was segregation ended at a state level and motivated by profit. The more applicable issue is racism ended at the personal level, motivated by good-- by what is right.

Why does the Central High Crisis and the Little Rock Nine still hit a nerve?

For some, like those who graduated from Central, it doesn't. Been there, done that. Been there again, done that again. Burnt out. There are just so many songs you can come up with and sing before it gets a little old and redundant. But for others, the event still applies because it puts faces to and mirrors an internal struggle to truly love and accept others.

I said the crisis ended on an economic note. And that is what my thesis focused on. The funny thing about God, though, is that it never ends where it ends. Believe that I took a highlighter to this bit of information:

Sept. 13, 1959: Faubus is in attendance as evangelist Billy Graham preaches to an audience of 30,000 in the second of two revival meetings in War Memorial Stadium.

Graham refers to the desegregation crisis, declaring that "only Christ can heal these scars and wounds." About 600 people come forward in response to Graham's call for public witness. He challenges the news media "to carry this story of hundreds of people of both races standing at the foot of the cross to receive Christ."

I'm not an expert on Little Rock after 1959. I have lived here for 19 years since 1989, though, and I have to say, it's a cool place. Sometimes I act like it's not because compared to a lot of places people up north are coming from it is small, it is boring, it's not as historic, it's not as pretty, and it basically fulfills the stereotypes. I don't like that it is known only for Bill Clinton, farmers, the razorbacks, and bare feet.

But there is a new person Little Rock (okay, Conway, but what's 30 miles?) is known for, and that absolutely thrills me! You may have heard of him? His name go Kris Allen.

On top of this, not all of the stereotypes are that bad.

Hospitality? Little Rock will take that as a compliment, thank you.

Sweet tea? Is there any other way?

Bare feet? What's it to you? Less hassle leaving the house, more comfortable inside.

Farmers? The best, most essential workers.

The accent? I may have one to you, but you have one to me. So go with it.

The drawl? Okay, so some take a little longer to get their words out there. It means we listen longer, too.

What's more, Little Rock has cheese dip, so go book your flights. If you live here, I'll meet you at Izzy's.

Above all else, though, greater things have yet to come and greater things are still to be done in this city. I love and am getting to know a God who wasn't through with me in 1989 or Little Rock in 1959. I trust that to learn about loving Him and others is the best way to progress as a city and grow as a person. I am confident that He has a unique plan to bring progress about in my city, as He does for yours. The thing is, it starts with me and you and willingness to let Him.