Looking Back to Move Beyond
At the Momentum Center, beyond is a powerful word. It’s aspirational. It invites us to stretch farther, dream bigger, and move forward. But there’s a truth we often overlook in our push to go “beyond”: you can’t move beyond if you haven’t looked behind.
In April, I had the great joy of leading our fourth Civil Rights Road Trip—a journey not only through geography but through time. Thirteen students, seven adults and I stood in the shadow of history as we moved from Birmingham to Selma to Montgomery to Memphis. Standing at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, what struck me most wasn’t just the exhibits or the silence around the site of Dr. King’s assassination. It was a newspaper front page from 1956. A political cartoon stood out—a man in dirty clothes, labeled NAACP, pouring a bottle of “lies” into a cauldron called “Anti-South Propaganda.” The ingredients in that bottle? Bias, bigotry, race hatred, prejudice, intolerance.
That image has been etched in my mind ever since. Because here we are—nearly 70 years later—and the same message is being recycled. Back then, the cartoon painted the civil rights movement as the source of division, the enemy of unity. Today, we hear similar distortions targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. We’re told that by focusing on race, on systemic injustice, on history, we’re actually creating division. That somehow, the very tools designed to bring healing and justice are the ones causing harm.
It’s the same twisted narrative in new packaging.
And if we don’t take the time to understand this cycle—how the past echoes in the present—we’re almost certain to repeat it. Going beyond injustice doesn’t mean ignoring it. It means confronting it. Understanding it. Learning from it. Only then can we break out of it.
But that's not the only reason to look backward in order to navigate the turbulence of the present. In his TED Talk Lessons from History for a Better Future, social philosopher Roman Krznaric explores why history isn’t just a record of what’s gone wrong — it’s also full of solutions, resilience and radical hope. Looking backward can give us inspiration and direction for actually moving forward. Despite a painful history lesson, the students on the CIvil Rights Road Trip left feeling inspired and hopeful for our future.
At the Momentum Center, we believe that a better world is possible—a world where all people are valued, where diversity is celebrated, where equity is foundational, and where inclusion isn’t just a word, but a way of life. But we also know this: if we want to get there, we have to be honest about where we are now—and how we got here.
We are on a journey to what lies beyond and we're inviting you to travel with us.
Namaste,
Barbara Lee VanHorssen
Experi-Mentor
Barbara@MomentumCenterGH.org
