Psalm 3: Seeing Yourself In The Psalms
Dedicated to Elizabeth Eckford, and the Little Rock Nine
In all literature and liturgy, the reader redefines and recontextualizes the text, to make it relevant for themselves. Psalms is a prime example of this phenomenon. Every chapter has taken on myriad additional meanings, as prayers during times of uncertainty, illness, and calamity. When you have a book like Psalms which is read piecemeal so regularly, the reader may find solace and strength in phrases they often repeat. They may not care about the original context, or even the entire Psalm. One phrase, in a vacuum, could become a constant meditation or mantra.
As I begin this series of artwork once a week based on Psalms, I began by reading chapter 3, and certain phrases jumped out at me. Instead of reading it as myself, I tried to imagine reading it as a member of the Little Rock Nine. These were nine Black students who enrolled in the racially segregated Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas in 1957. The governor even deployed the Arkansas National Guard to prevent the students from attending, defying a Supreme Court ruling.
Elizabeth Eckford, the first of the nine students to integrate an Arkansas school, later recalled: “They moved closer and closer. ... Somebody started yelling. ... I tried to see a friendly face somewhere in the crowd—someone who maybe could help. I looked into the face of an old woman and it seemed a kind face, but when I looked at her again, she spat on me.”
Photos of Elizabeth being circled by hatred and vitriol were seen around the world as testament to racism and bigotry, and were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize and the “News Picture of the Year” by the National Press Photographers Association.
It took President Eisenhower seeing a picture of Elizabeth to send in federal troops to accompany her to school.
Which Psalm would Elizabeth read? The girl who walked with her head held high through the angry mob. The girl who may have cried herself to sleep at night, but woke up the next morning to do the same thing. The girl who sought kindness, but encountered the truly wicked. In which Psalm would she find strength? In which Psalm would she see herself?
When I read Psalm 3, I don’t see David running from Absalom; I imagine Elizabeth Eckford reciting Psalm 3 at night, gathering courage to face another day with poise, grace, and dignity.