On the list of things I'm pretty sure would kill me, I'd say that high steppin up Tennessee Street from Macomb to Monroe in a full uniform with a foot-tall hat strapped to my head, playing a brass horn with occational stops to dance my ass off has got to be in the top 5. But the FAMU Marching 100 sure did it, and they looked flashy and sounded great doing it. And then a dozen or more other marching bands from the area followed them, spaced in with floats, FAMU alumni, beauty queens, and flag squads.
Hell, the Nims band did it, and those poor kids had a broken drum, a set of cymbols with bits gone from them, and four different makes and colors of sousaphone.
You can forget how racially segregated so many events still are until you wind up as one of the few white folks enjoying the FAMU homecoming parade. I wish the local city parades (spring and winter) attracted more of the folks who got involved with this one, either on the road or alog the edge, cheering.
3 comments:
Amen and bless you. I am constantly amazed at how far we are here in 2007 (2007!) to racial equality in ANY sense of the word.
Sorry I missed it. I've always been a Nims supporter and a Rattler fan. When the big bass drums lock in the beat, the hair on your neck starts to rise...man that's awesome.
Juancho, exactly. The Marching 100 was coming up the hill and I realized I was sort of going foot to foot with the beat. I looked around and realized that nearly everyone was doing the same.
I wish the Springtime and Winterfest parades were heavier on the marching bands and lighter on the marching confederates.
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