Taking It to Village Hall

This summer, our town has been hosting a series of free Tuesday night concerts at the gazebo in the village green. At the last one, on August 25, an oldies band performed rousing standards to a crowd mostly of older folk, but also to scattered clumps of teenagers and perhaps a dozen mothers with children and toddlers. Towards the end of the set, the lead singer made a series of remarks that my girlfriend and I found disturbing, not to mention crude and inappropriate. So I decided to write a letter to the village government about it. My girlfriend read it over and helped me tweak it, and we sent it off to Village Hall this morning, with both our names signed. I paste it below. (Since these are times of extreme political polarization, I have taken out our names, the name of our town, and the name of the band whose singer made the remark.)

Perhaps this letter is an overreaction. But I think that when a performer at a public, family-oriented event in a quiet northeastern suburb intentionally makes certain audience members feel unwelcome with an extremist political screed, it should at least be commented on.

August 26, 2009

To the Mayor, the Deputy Mayor, and Trustees of the Incorporated Village of A__

Dear Mr. Mayor, Mr. Deputy Mayor, and Trustees:

We write to thank you, but also to express a reservation, about the August 25 “Concert Under the Gazebo” in A__.

The show was wonderful, and the band was excellent. We appreciated the lead singer’s remarks that praised veterans, and that reminded the community of the sacrifices these veterans have made on behalf of the safety and security of our country. The lead singer also admirably called for a round of applause for veterans of the Vietnam War, who deserve better treatment and public acceptance than they have gotten. Certainly these are sentiments that nearly all sensible people agree upon, and community events such as the Tuesday Night Concerts are good opportunities to express those sentiments.

We were deeply troubled, however, by one of the singer’s remarks. At one point, he spoke of how our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are “fighting to keep us free”, and he said, to the best of our recollection, “and if you don’t believe that, get the hell out.” Leaving aside the question of whether the language choice was appropriate for a family event, we wish to point out that this remark pushed the singer’s message from one in support of veterans, to a hostile threat to people who hold certain political opinions. We feel this was highly inappropriate for a public event in a community such as A__, a community which is blessed to have unusual ethnic and social diversity, and probably has diversity of political opinion as well. It was very disturbing to see and hear a man with a microphone convey clearly to a large public audience that members of that audience were unwelcome if they held certain political opinions. Furthermore, it was disappointing that the singer seemed to accuse audience members who did not adhere to his political beliefs of being disrespectful to United States veterans.

We hope that future public events in A__ will maintain the atmosphere of community warmth and acceptance of diversity (ethnic, religious, political and other) that most of the Tuesday Night Concerts have had, and of which the village of A__ is rightly proud.

Sincerely, [etc.]