I was in Sacramento for their "Second Saturday" event.
It's an unusual combination of street fair atmosphere and block party, spanning a day filled with food, open galleries, street performers, merriment, wine tasting and a chance for the community to get out and have fun together. Then, after dark, the clubs come alive.
It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Be better with a date, but hey. One thing at a time.
There were plenty of characters, the curious and average citizens of all walks of life - a credit to Sacramento's diverse population.
I photographed some people and events and just took it all in the rest of the time. But looking back, what struck me wasn't what I saw, but what I didn't.
I don't remember seeing one elder Black couples; white and Latino and others but not one old, gray or silver-haired Black couple.
I have to wonder what that means.
Okay, maybe it's economics, I thought, but Sacramento is an affluent city.
Okay, maybe the venue was wrong, but how much better could there be?
Okay, so it's Sacramento and there may not be a large enough Black community, but I don't have the statistics to support that. So, what could it be?
Maybe there was little Black representation in the events. I saw country, folk and rock singers and their bands, a few Black performers here and there, but no live gospel, rappers or even jazz.
Maybe, I didn't see any because the timing was wrong.
Then again, maybe I didn't see any elder, Black couples because they just weren't interested.
I refuse to accept that there just may not be many left.
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3 comments:
Old Black couples are rare indeed. I saw one once, and then Ossie Davis died. That was about it. But don't fear. Bill ad Camille Cosby are getting up there.
goodness. maybe it's a west coast thing... but back east, and down south, there are BUKU old black couples, surely. lots of times, the man dies 10 years before the woman, but before that, they were an 'old couple' for awhile.
in my family, there's my parents and the bates and hmmm...not many more. i think my mom is the only one in her generation left who is not a widow. We just buried her 94 year old mom. Grandma Helen and Daddy Boot were a couple 10 years earlier...he died then at 89.
could it simply be we're in the midst of the 'changing of the guard?' I mean, "our" old couples are dying off, and we are now about to replace them. The reality is, for those of us who even bother to 'couple' anymore, we are now the 'new' old couples! Me and hubby, 51 and 60, definitely qualify.
sigh....
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