Before entering the Southern Poverty Law Center fortress we step across the street to the Civil Rights Memorial, designed by Maya Lin who designed the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington. This one is equally iconic, although I doubt my photos will do it justice. Beneath a moving quotation by Martin Luther King Jr. is a wide bowl balanced on a thin pedestal, which weeps water. A fountain bubbles up in the center of it, revealing that the bowl is shallow, and edged with the names, just under the water, of 40 individuals who died during the 50s and 60s in the struggle for civil rights, along with some important events, such as the election of Thurgood Marshall to the Supreme court. There is no mention of Clarence Thomas. The small museum behind the memorial makes the story intensely personal and adds to our understanding of the story we pursue. Time to enter the fortress.

-m