Monuments to Bigotry

Memphis has removed some of the monuments to bigotry in our city but what about the steps that keep us out of the mainstream of everyday life?

By Allison Donald

Once again history was made in Memphis when the city council voted unanimously to remove the confederate statues of Nathan Bedford Forrest and Jefferson Davis. For those people who were chanting “bring them down” as both statues were being lowered to the ground never to loom over Memphis again. Those statues were a constant reminder of the pain, oppression, and barriers many African Americans face in the city.

I watched the live Facebook feed of Jefferson Davis dangling from a crane, I saw the on lookers were cheering and I saw the sense of relief in Tammy Sawyer’s the head organizer of the TakeEmDown901. I could hear the relief in her voice as she spoke to the crowd and I could feel the joy of those at the event late at night. 

The experience of watching those monuments came down put a lot of things in perspective for me. It showed me that when Memphis comes together, the city can be great. I also began to wonder if people with disabilities have addressed the barriers that keep so many of us on the outside looking in. The monuments to inequality that still keep our community from being included.

I work on Madison Avenue right down the street from the University of Tennessee Health Sciences Park the former perch of the Nathan Bedford Forrest statue. Around the corner is a T-mobile store where I went to get my phone serviced. 

On this particular day I was with a friend who said as she stepped over the speed bump that is directly in front of the entrance “are you going to be able to get up here?”
In order for me to get into the store I had to step onto the speed bump and then use the step to enter the store.
We both knew that if any of our coworkers who use wheelchairs had come with us then they would not have been able get in the store through the front entrance. There was not a ramp or any sign identifying an alternate entrance for individuals who use mobility equipment. 

Even though I was able to get into the store the step is a barrier and as a person with a disability I don’t like being excluded from my community in any way.

That step is not a 5,500 pound monument that has cast a shadow over Memphis, but it is a barrier that symbolizes the lack of progress of full participation into the community for people with disabilities. 

That single step is a shrine to bigotry that must be removed in the same way the statues of Nathan Bedford Forrest and Jefferson Davis were in our city.