A lesson from five guys on Beale Street

One of the highlights of day 1 was a conversation a few students and I had on Beale Street with five men from Florida. We asked them “What does it mean to be an American?” The first response was “freedom.” We prompted them…freedom to do what? Freedom from what? One man pointed to a young African American boy who was doing backflips down the street for tip money…he says “freedom to make a buck.” Then, the discussion turns to freedom to worship. One man says: “If you want to be a Christian, be a Christian. If you want to be a Muslim, be a Muslim. If you want to be Jewish, be Jewish.” The other men nod and say “hmmm” in agreement.

We ask the men what divides us and we get some quick mentions: abortion, gay rights, and race. That’s the one that sticks. One of the men--an African American suggests that there are unwritten rules for people of color. We ask him to give us examples and to elaborate and he does… and, ultimately, everyone in the group--white and black--agrees they’ve seen different standards applied to (supposedly) different kind of people. I’ll skip the details for now because what I really want to highlight is what happens next.

We ask them what unites us and the resounding answer is that we are all Americans. The men start talking about President Obama. They are joking--three white guys on the end indicate that they didn’t vote for him while the two African-American men say that they did. Playful political banter goes on for a while but, ultimately, the three white men say that while they didn’t vote for Obama he is their president and they will support him. And, while I can’t describe it here, the feeling that I’m left with in witnessing this scene is one of hope. Here are five men of different races and different political beliefs hanging out on Beale Street just having a good time. They can agree to disagree and that gives me hope that we Americans can do the same thing, too.