The lights came up on a cheering crowd that moments before were singing along to one of the most well known songs of the last fifty years – “Midnight Train To Georgia.” It was a warm and humid summer night at the outdoor amphitheater in the heart of Atlanta. Flashes of lightning raced across the evening sky announcing to us that the surrounding severe storms were being held at bay just long enough for us to finish our celebration.
We were watching Gladys Knight close out her half of the night’s entertainment with great anticipation for Smokie Robinson to come later. As the lights came up on the audience cheering the performance the crowd suddenly struck me in a way that they had not in my previous visits to this same venue to watch other such stars filled performances reminiscent of my youth. There was a good representation of the Atlanta social strata – at least those with enough money to be in attendance for the one-night performance of two of the great legends of Motown Records who were giving us a great show.
But the show was not what struck me – it was the crowd. In a quick moment I saw a picture of us that spoke thousands of words…
There was no break in the cross section of people that we have been told exists. We were ALL there singing and cheering together. Our media and certain politicians continually pound on our differences and try to drive wedges between us as a cultural group. I realize it’s their own attempt to be able to relate to us and ‘cubbyhole’ our interests, but it occurred to me that they are missing the point. Their divisive hate-speech prism no longer fits us. America has moved on, grown and matured.
We all listened as one faceless crowd to these two great performers croon from across the decadess and we were there to admire them and reminisce with them. They told their stories of coming from nothing and becoming superstars… They embodied ‘The American Dream Realized.’ They were the soundtracks that made up our lives. At the same time, they were showing us that our lives were all intermingled into one shared culture. We all had our own individual memories of their songs and what they meant to us, but while they represented individuality they were representative of a shared experience for us ALL as well. Among the gray hairs and baldheads were flashes of the youth we all were forced to leave behind while at the same time there was a look at the long road we have traveled. We now are showing the signs of age, but there is a bond there between us all. We were of a time of change in America that brought us from the tumult of the 1950s to the unity of the 2000s. No… we’re not perfect yet – get real – but we’ve all grown closer together as a nation. Those of the ‘hate nation’ – from ANY side – are no longer tolerated by the general public; THEY are now the pariahs. Words of derision and anger are working their way out of our lexicons to be replaced by a feeling of a shared path. And, no, it’s not our leaders or Hollywood or the media who are taking us down that path, it is an awakening of our own spirit and a recognition of our own ‘oneness as a nation’ that is moving us along.
And in that moment of recognition with that crowd at an open-air amphitheatre in the heart of the Old South – I was proud of us all. We have come a long way and it was OUR generation that brought us along that road. TOGETHER we will go the rest of the way to putting ‘hate nation’ people in a museum so future generations can look on them and ask, “What the hell were they thinking?”
We were watching Gladys Knight close out her half of the night’s entertainment with great anticipation for Smokie Robinson to come later. As the lights came up on the audience cheering the performance the crowd suddenly struck me in a way that they had not in my previous visits to this same venue to watch other such stars filled performances reminiscent of my youth. There was a good representation of the Atlanta social strata – at least those with enough money to be in attendance for the one-night performance of two of the great legends of Motown Records who were giving us a great show.
But the show was not what struck me – it was the crowd. In a quick moment I saw a picture of us that spoke thousands of words…
There was no break in the cross section of people that we have been told exists. We were ALL there singing and cheering together. Our media and certain politicians continually pound on our differences and try to drive wedges between us as a cultural group. I realize it’s their own attempt to be able to relate to us and ‘cubbyhole’ our interests, but it occurred to me that they are missing the point. Their divisive hate-speech prism no longer fits us. America has moved on, grown and matured.
We all listened as one faceless crowd to these two great performers croon from across the decadess and we were there to admire them and reminisce with them. They told their stories of coming from nothing and becoming superstars… They embodied ‘The American Dream Realized.’ They were the soundtracks that made up our lives. At the same time, they were showing us that our lives were all intermingled into one shared culture. We all had our own individual memories of their songs and what they meant to us, but while they represented individuality they were representative of a shared experience for us ALL as well. Among the gray hairs and baldheads were flashes of the youth we all were forced to leave behind while at the same time there was a look at the long road we have traveled. We now are showing the signs of age, but there is a bond there between us all. We were of a time of change in America that brought us from the tumult of the 1950s to the unity of the 2000s. No… we’re not perfect yet – get real – but we’ve all grown closer together as a nation. Those of the ‘hate nation’ – from ANY side – are no longer tolerated by the general public; THEY are now the pariahs. Words of derision and anger are working their way out of our lexicons to be replaced by a feeling of a shared path. And, no, it’s not our leaders or Hollywood or the media who are taking us down that path, it is an awakening of our own spirit and a recognition of our own ‘oneness as a nation’ that is moving us along.
And in that moment of recognition with that crowd at an open-air amphitheatre in the heart of the Old South – I was proud of us all. We have come a long way and it was OUR generation that brought us along that road. TOGETHER we will go the rest of the way to putting ‘hate nation’ people in a museum so future generations can look on them and ask, “What the hell were they thinking?”
Having been born and raised in Georgia, and lived in other parts of our great nation, I understand one reason so many people move here.
ReplyDeleteI even wrote about it here: http://wp.me/p22NXb-1c