My esteemed colleague, Chuck Dean, must've been out of town this weekend.
How else could he defend saying that "Birmingham is not a destination city," on the same weekend that 10,000 people packed Bartow Arena to watch Deontay Wilder defend his heavyweight title? The same weekend that more than 50,000 people flocked to the BJCC to watch Garth Brooks?
He must've missed the Barons' millionth fan walking through the gates to Regions Field two weeks ago. And I'm guessing he hasn't walked through the Theater District recently.
And... if he really doesn't think Birmingham is a destination city, I'm beginning to wonder if he's even been to Civil Rights Institute. Because, he fails to realize that it's because of the city's past that we are such an important destination for people throughout the world.
Last week I had the opportunity to meet with sophomores and juniors from the prestigious Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass. The students were visiting the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute as part of a 10-day immersion experience in the American South. In past years, Phillips students have visited China, Europe, or even South Africa. But these students chose to spend their summer in Birmingham and the American South.
Now, I've got to say that I was skeptical. The idea of high schoolers "studying" the South by visiting Civil Rights battlegrounds sounded a bit like signing up for a dating service that only allowed you to list your glaring flaws – swipe right for occasional lynching, swipe left for bigoted textbooks. I could easily envision some sanctimonious Yankee teacher saying, "Look kids! Here's where racism happened." But after meeting with the students and teachers, I was pleasantly surprised.
It's hard to know what to expect from 16-year-old and 17-year-old kids. My assumption was that these kids from Los Angeles, Brooklyn, Massachusetts and around the country would approach the South as an alien world that needed to be analyzed and fixed. What I found, instead, were kids that approached Birmingham, Selma and Montgomery with something like reverence. These were communities that they could learn from, not places to fear or change. They quickly drew parallels to struggles in their own community and found inspiration in the thousands of protestors that worked in tandem to make a difference in the face of terrible odds.
It's a mindset that I think may be lost on people like Chuck Dean. Birmingham is a destination city because of "cowards who set off a bomb in a black church almost 52 years ago killing four little girls."
In fact, Mo'ne Davis – one of the coolest sports superstars in the world right now – is visiting the city later this month specifically to learn more about those four little girls.
Like the students at Phillips Academy, Davis and her teammates are planning a cultural tour through the South, playing exhibition games in communities like Selma, Birmingham and Little Rock while embracing the history lessons offered by each community. And thousands of people take similar cultural excursions each year.
In speaking with Judith Wombwell, the faculty member that planned and coordinated the Phillips Academy trip through the South, I was struck by a growing generational divide. Wombwell grew up in Memphis during the 1960s, witnessing the civil rights battles first hand, just a child when Dr. King was assassinated while visiting her hometown. Like Chuck, I get the feeling that when Wombwell sees Birmingham and Memphis, she sees horror. Even today, they struggle to see beyond the flickering black-and-white images of horror that defined the South in their youth.
For many of us too young to have firsthand experience with sit-ins, or children's marches or earth-shattering assassinations, we view the South's role in the Civil Rights movement with pride. History was made here – and we have an obligation to learn from and continue that legacy.
It's an obligation that the world wants to be a part of as well.
Since its opening in 1992, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute has been visited by more than 2 million tourists from across the United States, from South Africa, from the Middle East, and countries across Europe and South America. The legacy of nonviolent protests has inspired millions across the globe – no wonder so many people approach Edmund Pettus Bridge or the 16th Street Baptist Church with such reference. Birmingham is certainly a destination city in the eyes of UNESCO.
With all due respect to Birmingham's yuppies and yuccies, while the art museum may be great and our music scene is phenomenal, and while I love Regions Field, Railroad Park and our incredible food scene, it's places like the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute that set us apart. That make us an essential American city. If you haven't been yet, it's time to go.
In the last several years, we've seen a tremendous renaissance in downtown Birmingham. But the renaissance hasn't been driven by destroying or painting over the city's past – it's been driven by restoration and revitalization. To some, Birmingham's role in history is an ugly scar to be avoided, but if we embrace it and continue to build on it – by renovating the A.G. Gaston Motel and establishing the "Freedom Center," for example – it could bring more tourism, attention and excitement to the city than a newly restored theater or hotel could ever hope to.
Source: Ignore Chuck Dean; the world recognizes Birmingham is an essential destination city
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