Sometimes, it takes small events to truly surprise a person, as well as to remind them of the more important things in life.
When I attended a performance by the students of E.H. Greene on January 16, I wondered how they would relate their music to Dr. King; one of the most important civil rights leaders in history. Some of their first songs were “Together Wherever We Go” from Gypsy, along with their school theme to the tune of “You’re a Grand Old Flag”. For a moment, I thought I had arrived too early into the concert.
However, all my questions were soon answered in the form of a single song, “Where is the Peace.” The song asks questions, such as why there continue to be racial and ethnic conflicts in the world. This was one of the problems King hoped to never see again. It was one he clearly addressed in his famous “I have a Dream” speech when he spoke of a world where no one would be “judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
The song also helped me to take a long look at what issues still plague the world including: intolerance, ignorance, and the fact that some people just aren’t willing to look past another’s background to see who they really are.
As I listened, my thoughts went back to the time I heard a Chinese musician play on campus, and I was angered to hear a student’s comments about that person being “a spy”. This made me realize just how far humanity has to go in dealing with different cultures. I also started to wonder what this person would have said if he had seen the children instead of that musician–would he have been ‘happier’ because none of the students were ‘foreign’? Might he have enjoyed the music more because it was ‘native’?
Most of all, I wondered how Dr. King would have dealt with the situation. Then I remembered another lesson he taught us–“People fear what they do not understand.” Perhaps the concert by the students from E.H. Greene took us one step closer to overcoming that fear.
Friday, July 4, 2025