Good morning, Baltimore
Every day's like an open door
Every night is a fantasy
Every sound's like a symphony.
-- from Hairspray the musical
After last week's riots -- stemming from the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who died in police custody -- the world knows things in Baltimore aren't quite the way spunky teenager Tracy Turnblad idealizes them in her dreamy opener "Good Morning Baltimore" in the musical Hairspray.
Those of us who have lived there -- as I did most of my upbringing (several miles to the northwest in the Baltimore County 'burbs) -- have probably known that for a long time, even if we'd rather focus on our city's better facets -- the sports teams, the steamed crabs, the world-class art museums, the Inner Harbor, the place in history as the home of "The Star-Spangled Banner."
There's crime. There's poverty. There's unrest. Pride aside, Baltimore is like any other major metropolitan area in the country with social and economic tensions. And unfortunately such matters -- unlike the cultural clashes at the heart of Hairspray, in which Tracy aspires to integrate The Corny Collins Show, an all-white teen dance program -- can't be smoothed in a couple of hours with sing-songy dance numbers.
Still, it was shocking to see Charm City and its landmarks as the setting for the surreal horror show playing out on cable news last week: the peaceful-turned-perilous protesting; the Mondawmin Mall looting; cinder blocks hurled at police; cars and homes on fire; an unfinished senior citizen center burning; a CVS pharmacy in flames; rioters slashing a fire department hose with knives, sabotaging the saving of said drugstore; and an eerie, empty baseball stadium not safe enough for fans to fill. Shocking. And sickening.
How can this be happening? How can this be happening there? How can people do this to one another? How can people do this to themselves? How long will it take Baltimore to recover? Can Baltimore ever recover?
Several signs have given me hope that the city will, in time, be restored.
The single mother who loved her 16-year-old son enough to literally knock some sense into him and drag his wannabe-gangster butt home. The clergy who linked arms and put themselves in harm's way to appeal for peace. The lone Vietnam veteran, caught on CNN, hollering at the aggressive crowd to "Go! Step your a** away!" The volunteers who brought trash bags from home and began cleaning up their neighborhoods. The Baltimore Ravens delivering food and speaking to school students. The generosity of others, like the Indiana architecture firm that offered to restart work on the torched senior center. Other states, like Pennsylvania and New Jersey, lending police officers to help.
Healing is not only possible, it's already happening.
It brings to mind lyrics from another Hairspray song -- "I Know Where I've Been" by Motormouth Maybelle (host of "Negro Day" on The Corny Collins Show) and ensemble:
There's a dream in the future
There's a struggle that we have yet to win
Use that pride in our hearts
To lift us up, to tomorrow
'Cause just to sit still would be a sin
Lord knows I know
Where I've been
I'll give thanks to my God
'Cause I know where I've been.
Email:
jchristman@arkansasonline.com
What's in a Dame is a weekly report from the woman 'hood.
Style on 05/05/2015