You Might Want to Forget 2020; This Short Film Reminds You Why You Shouldn’t

My gourmet poets society met via zoom on New Year’s Eve, sharing music and poetry to honor the heartache of 2020 and the hope for 2021. We sang the traditional Auld Lang Syne together, and Dina shared the link to this beautiful, very untraditional version, For the Sake of Old Times, released by NPR December 30, 2020.

 From the pews of a church where white deacons once refused to seat African-Americans, a group of black singers in Alabama reminds us of why preserving our memories of this historic year is vital, even if we would rather just leave 2020 behind.

For the Sake of Old Times pairs of the performance of Auld Lang Syne with archival footage from 2020, particularly of the summer’s racial justice protests. Among them a vigil and protest in Chattanooga, Tennessee, the removal of a statue honoring Stonewall Jackson, the Confederate general in Richmond, Virginia, and the dismantling of a monument commemorating the Confederacy in Birmingham, Alabama.

The film is short – four minutes. Its impact will last far longer.  May you take it to heart, and take it into the new year.