Hey there – just letting you know I will in the South of France for a week. I am here for a wedding. Which is pretty bourgie, if you ask me. So I won’t be blogging for a bit. I miss you already!

To tide you over, here’s a photo of the slavery memorial in Oosterpark in Amsterdam. I had a long layover there en route and Baratunde strongly suggested I check it out. I had trouble finding it and finally asked the first black person I saw. He knew right where it was. Bobby is from Suriname, a former Dutch colony. He remarked that the money paid to create the statue could have fed a lot of hungry people back in suriname. I feel him on that.

Yet – symbols are important, even if nearly hidden in an obscure section of a small park. They feed the collective soul, if not the body. Nothing like this (to my knowledge) exists as a national monument and recognition of the horror of slavery (and its lasting impact) in the U.S. I found myself profoundly moved. May our society one day formally acknowledge the suffering and triumph of all its citizens over such an evil.

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