A progressive city

Columnist Gail Kerr makes a very good point that Nashville is becoming a more progressive city in her column in today's Tennessean.

I'm glad to see that our "power brokers" are opening doors to minorities and that Vanderbilt is finally facing TSU on the football field. I'm a little more cynical that there are profit motives in both instances than Gail is, but I still think both organizations realize that these decisions are, nonetheless, good things to do. That's good enough for me.

Vanderbilt's mens basketball team is playing Lipscomb this year. I think that has less to do with uniting the city and reaching out to white evangelical Christians than it does with winning basketball games. Lipscomb will be a heavy underdog, and it would be a major upset if they won.
All that said, I'm still glad to see different segments of our community interacting. In my opinion, we are definitely a more welcoming and cosmopolitan community than we were 20 years ago, and that's a good thing.

I think former councilwoman Betty Nixon, who is quoted in Kerr's column, makes a good point:

"It's like when you go to a party and you don't know some people, and you only talk with the people you came with. We need to talk with new people."

If you only talk to people you already know, you don't learn as much as you could if you have the courage to engage new people and new places. Well said, Betty (and Gail).