Descending in the elevator into the world I can’t believe ever existed, I desperately tried to brace myself for what was going to be a wave of hopelessness for our world. We reached the bottom and saw the doors open to the year 1400. Just as the chatter died down around me, so did the voice in my head reminding me of my superficial thoughts I seldom let go. My first feelings, feelings that persisted for most of our journey through this museum, consisted of horror and disappointment. Horror of what humans can do to other humans and disappointment in myself for not always standing to eradicate the racism that haunts my country. Each artifact, picture, statistic and description on the bottom levels were more harrowing than the last. The tiny cuffs that held a child during the slave trade, the picture of an infant being held at its wrist to be auctioned off, a 250:50 ratio of alive to dead on one slave ship and the quotes from those who lived through it are ingrained in my mind. What is also ingrained in my mind though, is the picture of Obama’s inauguration; Tommie Smith and John Carlos standing with their medals on and hands up with fists; Harriet Tubman’s Shawl. “The way to right wrongs is to shine the light of truth upon them.” -Ida B. Wells. These images exemplify how far we have come and remind me of how far we need to go. We can get there, it is not hopeless, but only with the light of truth.