Jim Crow Law

I talked to the bartender. She was a round woman from Birmingham, Alabama. I told her I cycled through Alabama, and it made her delighted. I asked her what it was like to live there before the Civil Rights movement. She told that they had different water fountains for whites and blacks, that she had to sit in the back seat in a bus and was asked leave the seat when there was no seat for white people..

I knew all about these facts, all the segregation and Jim Crow law.
But the history was dead to me. I couldn’t feel it. Just like the fact I know people die in Palestine but I don’t have much of sympathy for them.

But today, I could feel it. Her life became a part of my history.

Corny

I met Corny in a restaurant in Tupelo , Mississippi. She is round, looks about 42 years old and has beautiful smile. She told me that she never traveled in her entire life.

“I envy you. Even though you’re from Korea, and I’m an American, I’m sure you’ve seen my country much more than I’ve seen."

The biggest place she has ever been to was Memphis, TN, which was 3 hours away from the town.
I ordered a turkey sandwich. She brought me a fresh baked sandwich and a wooden bowl. “You see the salad bar over there?” she smiled,”help yourself”






3000 miles to NYC.