Tour Day 5 – Bowling Green KY – Birmingham AL

“I hope this letter finds you strong in the faith. I also hope that circumstances will soon make it possible for me to meet each of you, not as an integrationist or a civil-rights leader but as a fellow clergyman and a Christian brother. Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear drenched communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.

Yours for the cause of Peace and Brotherhood, Martin Luther King, Jr.”

Well, we are alive and well here in Birmingham, AL. It’s an early hotel night and the lobby is full of singers waiting for their food from various delivery locales. Lilly, Parker V, Hayden, Andrew, Mac, and Ryder are getting ready for a game of cards it appears. Brittany, Gwen, Violet, Abriel and David are doing what can only be described as yapping. Corbin, Landon S, Dylan, Chris, Ethan B. Zachary, Corey and Madisyn are… also yapping. A few others are swimming.

So, no singing tonight. By any measure it has been a tiring few days.  We’re all feeling it, even the adults. A nice no-responsibility night in the hotel isn’t being scoffed at by anyone. Now, that doesn’t mean that it was an uneventful day. Can you guess where we were by the excerpt above? Yep, I knew y’all were smart (or you cheated and read the itinerary). We spent several hours at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute.

The institute is a powerful place, and if you’ve never been you owe yourself a trip. I personally think it should be mandatory for all Americans to experience it once. It is a pressing reminder that we are always one decision away from freedom; that freedom isn’t only created by actions of governments, but by every decision that ordinary people take toward each other. We are fortunate enough that we participate in a government whose foundation sits on these daily attitudes. Get enough of those attitudes together and things change in our communities and our governments. But the process of change comes with a price. It did then and it does now.

I must admit it raises an issue I have found myself pondering while on tour: How do we as sponsors shepherd these kids for two weeks toward an apolitical faith? By that I mean that New G’s mission is to break down barriers – not to choose a particular barrier to align behind. How do we walk that tightrope? And when we get to the Gulf – WHAT DO WE CALL IT?????? I’m just going to stick with “water”. How do we stay apolitical and also prod the singers to have a passion for acting in the interest of what is right? To take a stand against the things that divide us. Good thing New G’s job is just to augment the great job that you all have already done. Today will be a powerful component, though. I can’t imagine any of them experiencing the Institute and not leaving impacted in some way.

For the last 55 years New G has somehow found a way to keep walking that tightrope. New G exists with nearly no reference to the political climate whatsoever. Can it be that He it is who TRULY binds us together? That is the great experiment of New G. I hope that our singers can, in their teenage minds, somehow put this all together and that it builds the foundation that can truly support a willingness to step outside the noise, look at the big picture, and consider the impact of the times they are living in. Maybe they will learn to make the radiant stars of love and brotherhood shine over our great nation with all of their scintillating beauty.

Signing off again, Your friend, Joseph