Sense of community growing from Plaza event

Sense of community growing from Plaza event



By DEE LOVELL
St. Augustine
Publication Date: 02/01/09


It's not easy to explain why St. Augustine's inauguration celebration on Jan. 20 meant so much to those who came to the Plaza de la Constitucion in the freezing cold. You could palpably sense that it was important to them. They seemed extremely proud and happy to be part of the nation's big day, Barack Obama's day, and to experience it as a citizenry coming together to share that pride in their hometown. Many said so afterward.

You could see they felt it as they experienced the solemnity of the color guard, saluting the flag, the invocation, and the inspiring words of Mayor Joe Boles who read the city's proclamation designating "Coming Together..." Day in St. Augustine.

They heard the irony in young "Outta Sight" blind students singing "America the Beautiful" for those of us who could not only see but also hear the message in that anthem.

They felt the moving words of Elizabeth Roth singing John Lennon's "Imagine" -- which is how St. Augustine's celebration started. It was literally imagined by Stetson Kennedy and Sandra Parks-Kennedy, who hailed the greatness of our first black president and said to a friend, who shared their belief, that something should be done to honor Obama in our hometown.

A jubilant long-time resident noted that the spirit of the day expressed a sense of community that many believed St. Augustine had lost. In past years, she said, locals had coffee together at the St. George Pharmacy (now the Bunnery), hailed one another doing business at the courthouse (now Casa Monica), socialized on sidewalks, or shared joys and sorrows when visiting old Flagler Hospital on Marine Street (near the Council on Aging).

The gathering showed us that our "community" is no longer defined by the buildings residents frequent, but rather by a sense of shared hope and commitment that should not depend on how long one's lived here, one's church, race, job, who one knows, what one does for a living, or the color of one's skin. Community is now growing up with Obama, as we express our gratitude that America has shown the world we are finally trying to live up to our ideals.

Many citizens left the comfort of their homes for the camaraderie of community that day, a day to believe in racial opportunity and social justice that is long overdue.

Many who came recalled civil rights protests and arrests some 40 years ago on nearby St. George Street.

They were there for Obama, the man this writer heard speak at the 2005 Herblock Foundation Awards in Washington, D.C. A man not then running for president, but a U.S. senator with words of principle, purpose and vision -- a new voice and face of America.

Maybe with him leading us in national tolerance, we'll usher in a new era of multi-cultural unity in this city, this county and this country.

The intangible spirit that brought people out was personified in the young black mother who arrived hours beforehand with her children, explaining she had to take the early bus from Jacksonville because the next one would have made her late. They were the first to arrive, carrying a rolled-up blanket to sit on and delighting in helping pass out souvenir flags.

Then, after Sylvia Howard's thrilling rendition of "God Bless America," one final dominant image unexpectedly concluded the event on another human note. A well-dressed young woman strolled over and sat on a concrete bench next to a bearded, bundled-up homeless man. They talked and listened together for half an hour in animated, friendly conversation. How often do you see that in the former Slave Market in the Plaza?

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Dee Lovell is a former writer and editor for The Washington Post and The Baltimore Sun. She coordinated St. Augustine's inauguration celebration, "Coming Together..." along with Barbara B. Allen and Robin Nadeau, whom, she said, were indispensably there for every phone call, meeting and crisis, and Judith Seraphin, who with her crew did the great Old-Glorious Plaza decorations. Lovell has lived in St. Augustine for eight years.


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