Every year the African-American Culture Club hosted an evening event at Whitney Young High School. I checked it out. I had three reasons:
- I was hungry for soul food.
- It gave me a chance to make jokes in class about “breaking the color barrier”.
- The gospel choir was scheduled to perform. That choir rocked the United States of America. They could make the most hardened atheist love Jesus for a few minutes. I doubt 99% of white folks have experienced a black gospel choir. It’s mind blowing. And no, that scene from Blue’s Brothers doesn’t count. I’ve often thought about bringing the family to a black church to hear a gospel choir. Dick’s Last Resort in Chicago has a Sunday afternoon black gospel choir, but I never got around to checking it out.
Alas, nothing ever lives up to its hype:
- The “soul food” was prepared by the school cafeteria. It was the same crap I had endured every day for lunch.
- Mr. Wallace was there with his girlfriend. I had failed to break the color barrier.
- The gospel choir showed up, but their director/leader was crying and acting crazy, so they canceled the performance.
Oh well, still a good time overall…