Thank You Nashville

I'm not saying Nashville should be thanking Eric Crafton and John Tanton. We shouldn't. We are who we are despite those bozos. But in a way, it's true: you could say we now know who we are because of them.

Think about it. America was a great idea, but until the Confederacy seceded from the Union, this country didn't know that it could stomach horrific Civil War in order to stand against and defeat slavery. Until people died in pursuit of civil rights, America never realized its true potential. Until the Buffalo Bills scored a late field goal against the Titans in the playoffs . . . okay, you get the idea.

Not to suggest that yesterday's election is at all comparable to the civil rights movement or the Civil War (or that it was a miracle) but, until Eric Crafton forced us into yesterday's vote, none of us really knew exactly what we, as a city, were capable of standing up to. Nashville, at least in recent decades, has always fancied itself as a Southern melting pot, and a very welcoming one. But now we sort of have proof of that.

Someone showed up and started insisting that a massive majority of our residents are NOT welcoming. I think it's safe to say this proposal had the city of Nashville scared to death. What if we aren't who we thought we were? I know plenty of us cringed at the idea of fulfillment of some terrible stereotypes we've had spat back at us as Southerners, Tennesseans, Nashvillians. Honestly, how do you move forward as a city with such a terrible tag attached to you?

We faced the ultimate acid test of the character of our city. We withstood an organized wave of xenophobia and general stupidity attempting to invade our city's borders. But, as Nashvillians have done before, we came together--Republicans, Democrats, and Other--and overwhelmingly defeated a money-wasting, meaningless, racist, bumbling piece of legislation funded by people who stayed in the shadows and led by a man with ridiculous ambitions.

Remember Crafton's promise to the New York Times?

“We’ll make English the official language here,” he said. “After that happens, we’re going to go city to city, show them how we’ve done it here, and let the dominos fall.”

The English Only train won't be going coast to coast or coming to a city near you, and for that, you can thank the welcoming, diverse city of Nashville.