Sam Cooke just got the key to the city of Shreveport, Louisiana, where he was once refused a room at a hotel.
It’s been more than 50 years years since Cooke suffered racism at the hands of city locals, but apparently it’s never too late to apologize.
As Cooke’s daughter Carla Cooke performed at the 33rd annual Let the Good Times Roll Festival last weekend, Mayor Adrian Perkins said it was time for the community to acknowledge its past.
“A lot of people from the community actually reached out to us about it, saying that, ‘Hey, this is a shameful part of our history, and we should acknowledge it,’” Perkins said. “We looked into it. We reached out to the family to see how they felt about it, and the family was excited.
“We need to come to terms with our past so we can move forward in a positive way, so this is the beginning. Specifically with this, it’s a beginning of a new relationship with the Cooke family.”
Cooke, best known for his civil rights anthem “A Change Is Gonna Come,” had visited Shreveport in 1963. After showing up to the Holiday Inn where he had a reservation, the King of Soul and his three companions — his wife, his brother, and his manager — were refused a room.
When they arrived at another hotel, which often hosted black celebrities, police arrested them for disturbing the peace. According to Peter Guralnick, who wrote the biography Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke, the incident helped inspire his most famous song.
It also just prompted Shreveport to apologize. In honor of Cooke, who died in 1964, Perkins gave the key to the city to his daughter on Saturday.
“I’m so honored that Mayor Perkins took the time to do the apology while I was performing at the festival,” Carla said.
The gesture may seem like too little too late. But as Congress debates implementing reparations for slavery, an idea that presidential candidate Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., has supported, Shreveport may set a good precedent.
The city acknowledged its past, apologized, and offered a symbolic peace offering. Reparations may not be as helpful as they seem, but that doesn’t mean communities across America can’t make amends.
