Without Sanctuary

I wrote this after viewing the ‘Without Sanctuary’ exhibit at the Chicago Historical Society, which was a powerful visual memorial to the practice of lynching black people in our country. Several of the photographs on display were actually souvenir postcards sent by members of the crowd at these executions; one showed an entire family of young children brought out to witness these acts for an ‘entertaining’ afternoon.



The verge of tears is shaky ground:


Angry

Shocked

But I shouldn’t be

I knew this had happened before.

Still,

Pictures drive history into your heart

Close to home



Remembering Iraq

Palestine, soldiers

Smiling over corpses

Just like in these photos

We haven’t changed so much since then

Mangled bodies

Extreme violence

As family entertainment:

Come on! Bring the kids!



In the Museum you hear

Soft gasps of horror

Now.



The role of the faithful is both to struggle with,
and to die with--if necessary.

Yet who can be prepared

For things like this?



August 2005