The Taproot

In botanical terms, a taproot is the center root of a plant that grows vertically downward and from which all other roots emerge. The taproot searches for a source of water and anchors the plant deeply into the soil. The nature of that taproot is hope. That one root is the hope for survival of the whole organism.

Within the civil rights movement, its laborers hope for various things. Some hope for integration and others hope for revolution. Some simply work for reconciliation. But these various and sundry goals are subsidiary outgrowths of the taproot of the civil rights movement that seeks, ultimately, to see all people affirmed in their humanity. Once that taproot has found an anchor and sustenance, the subsequent roots can work together for mutual benefit of the organism that IS true equality.

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