YOLANDA ADAMS: A CONSCIOUS SISTER
While going through some of my old things this weekend, I came across a ticket stub from a 2000 Teen Summit. I attended the summit in September 2000, sponsored by the New Orleans Public Schools system and hip-hop/R&B stations WQUE-FM and KMEZ-FM in New Orleans, that she was supposed to perform for. The theme of this years teen summit was "Open Your Heart" named after one of her albums. Yolanda was one of the guests, and even though the event was basically for junior/senior high school students I knew I had to participate in the summit cause I always loved me some Yolanda Adams! I was 20 and attending college at the time of this event.
We purchased the tickets and over 50,000 junior/senior high school students attended the event where the students debated on subjects such as teen pregnancy, violence, and improving community involvement in the schools, and offered free reading material, T-shirts, CD's, and schools supplies to the students. As we were getting ready to close the floor for debate on teen pregnancy it was announced a local rapper would be taking the place of Yolanda due to a scheduling conflict, and a big collective groan could be heard over the crowd of students.
Then, after we were ready to go into the subject of violence in the schools, you could see someone come up to the stage and it was Yolanda Adams. She went on to say how sorry she was for the inconvience and praised the students and their families for attending the event, and then she gave a performance that moved nearly all the students, parents, and community activists in the audience to tears.
During the long break Yolanda was recieving fans in the Louisiana Superdome by signing autographs and such, talking and smiling with the participants. She was a bit tired, but none the less looked GREAT! (I might add). My friend and I were about the last people in line to recieve her. She kept looking back at us, but what really got me was that beautiful smile. When we finally got to her she looked at our names and stood and greeted us with a WELL pronounced "As Salaam Alaikum". She gave my friend and I the embrace of a Muslim Sister. Of course I stepped forward and gave her a real motherly HUG, because I was gonna get me a hug from Yolanda Adams!
She went on to discuss how one of her relatives was a follower of Minister Farrakhan and how she taught 3rd grade to many Muslim students in her hometown of Houston and how honored she was to have us in attendence and how disappointed she was about the scheduling conflict. I mentioned to her that I had loved her since seeing her perform her song "Gotta Have Love" on the Grammy Awards in 1996 and how my friend and I wished she could adopt us both. We all had a good laugh.
Her background as a former elementary school teacher was not a surprise to me, only that one of her relatives was a follower of Minster Farrakhan was a surprise. It also is not a surprise because we know her songs always featured a very 'positive' and cultural message aimed at the youth.
We chatted for a good 10-15 minutes until the next segment of the teen summit; I remarked on the way home to my friend that the same way Yolanda is gracious and humble in her music, she's even more gracious and humble in her interaction with us.
Anyway, that is my Yolanda Adams story.
We purchased the tickets and over 50,000 junior/senior high school students attended the event where the students debated on subjects such as teen pregnancy, violence, and improving community involvement in the schools, and offered free reading material, T-shirts, CD's, and schools supplies to the students. As we were getting ready to close the floor for debate on teen pregnancy it was announced a local rapper would be taking the place of Yolanda due to a scheduling conflict, and a big collective groan could be heard over the crowd of students.
Then, after we were ready to go into the subject of violence in the schools, you could see someone come up to the stage and it was Yolanda Adams. She went on to say how sorry she was for the inconvience and praised the students and their families for attending the event, and then she gave a performance that moved nearly all the students, parents, and community activists in the audience to tears.
During the long break Yolanda was recieving fans in the Louisiana Superdome by signing autographs and such, talking and smiling with the participants. She was a bit tired, but none the less looked GREAT! (I might add). My friend and I were about the last people in line to recieve her. She kept looking back at us, but what really got me was that beautiful smile. When we finally got to her she looked at our names and stood and greeted us with a WELL pronounced "As Salaam Alaikum". She gave my friend and I the embrace of a Muslim Sister. Of course I stepped forward and gave her a real motherly HUG, because I was gonna get me a hug from Yolanda Adams!
She went on to discuss how one of her relatives was a follower of Minister Farrakhan and how she taught 3rd grade to many Muslim students in her hometown of Houston and how honored she was to have us in attendence and how disappointed she was about the scheduling conflict. I mentioned to her that I had loved her since seeing her perform her song "Gotta Have Love" on the Grammy Awards in 1996 and how my friend and I wished she could adopt us both. We all had a good laugh.
Her background as a former elementary school teacher was not a surprise to me, only that one of her relatives was a follower of Minster Farrakhan was a surprise. It also is not a surprise because we know her songs always featured a very 'positive' and cultural message aimed at the youth.
We chatted for a good 10-15 minutes until the next segment of the teen summit; I remarked on the way home to my friend that the same way Yolanda is gracious and humble in her music, she's even more gracious and humble in her interaction with us.
Anyway, that is my Yolanda Adams story.
Wow I love this blog and thanks so very much for sharing it. Might I add that I love Yolanda, too and her music got me through some really tough times in my life. God bless the sister.