I was born in Stuart Circle Hospital, named after the striking sculpture of the Confederate general at the circle’s center. Over the years from the backseat of the family station wagon, I anticipated the galloping horse as we got closer, turning to look back at the rider’s plumed hat and cape. My last image was always of the spurs on the heel his left boot, barely secured in the stirrup. Fortunately, mine is not the only imagination captured by this sculpture. Meet Kehinde Wiley’s 2019 re-imagination of another whinnying horse and purposeful rider.
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When Lucille Clifton asks, “won’t you celebrate with me,” we answer yes. What does this Black woman decide when she finds no model for how to create her life? “what did i see but to be myself?” she responds. The poet fastens her hands and makes her life of “starshine and clay.” What does a boy from the staunchly-segregated south long to do before he dies? Jimmy Carter casts his ballot for Kamala Harris. Won’t you celebrate the 39th president with me?