Memphis is a hidden city in every sense of the words; a city that can’t be seen regardless of the angle or approach to her. She rests on a bluff along the Mississippi River banks in a downward angle from west to east. In addition, she has more trees per square mile than any city of her size. For miles along I-240, one sees only trees and might be unaware that in midst of the trees is great city and a powerful people. Moreover, one can’t see down a corridor in any direction more than a half mile. Inside this great city, the land mass is greater than Atlanta, Nashville, Dallas, and Birmingham. Memphis Metropolitan Statistical Area’s population is more than a million people; she is the 24th largest city in America.
Unlike many of our large cities with their beautiful skyscrapers, Memphis is virtually invisible. Imagine, a beautiful, wealthy, and powerful love that you can’t see. Imagine further, you desire him or her more than life itself; trapped in a world where there is no relief from this agonizing pain of love, with no means of fulfillment. Further, your life and its growth are directly affected by your views of this strange attraction and relationship. Would your life become restricted or would you give up and leave your love for a better life? Perhaps, both scenarios are within grip.
Now, let’s look at how this metaphor could explain why citizens of Memphis are having a problem with understanding and identifying their city. First, how can one desire what he or she can’t see? In the City of Memphis, African Americans desire for success might be obstructed because they can’t completely grasp or visualize the greatness of their city. Unlike the great cities of Atlanta, Dallas, Nashville, New York, Chicago, Birmingham, Los Angeles, etc., there is at no point where Memphians could actually look upon their city, day or night from the land or air, blind of her existence, moving to and fro within the city, never knowing about her greatness.
One’s exuberating hunger feeds deep inside his or her soul as one approaches many of America’s great cities, in search of prosperity and success. These cities appear to welcome one to wrap their arms around them, to love, and grow within their boundaries, not Memphis! It’s difficult to imagine or visualize a path to success in an invisible city. Would one fight a vigorous battle for something that’s invisible or fantasize.
What happens in the minds of African Americans when they ride through the streets of Memphis without a clue of what they see? Everyone’s image of Memphis is based on his or her own individual square block, the people they personally know, and how those people affected their lives. Having not grasp Memphis in her glory and power causes many to give up on acquiring a full and successful life.
Memphians must distinguish their city in greater clarity than as looking upon our nation’s greatest city; create an insatiable hunger for her greatness and wealth, study her history while realizing that nearly a million people lives within her boundaries. Approximately 420,000 (62.9%) African Americans live within Memphis’s boundaries however; they have never understood their economic powers; more importantly, how to create an economy between themselves. Changing the minds of African Americans from those of negative thoughts about their homeland into ones of positive and successful living, might be the greatest experimental challenge of the 21st century.
