“Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me):” Can an American Idol and an ascending artist help their hometown Meridian, MS?

“I feel the pain in your voice,” said Jelly Roll—American Idol’s first-ever artist-in-residence—about Jamal Roberts’ rendition of his hit song “Liar.” “I think you represent a group of misrepresented people.”

“I was so proud of you, Meridian, MS. The unity you showed made me proud to have been born [here],” wrote Larenzo Harry—ascending artist and lifelong Meridian resident—on Facebook about Jamal’s hero’s welcome concert and festivities the week before the show’s grand finale.

Courtesy Mississippi Free Press, Photo by Roger Amos

More than 20,000 people packed the City Hall lawn of this community of a little over 33,500. The pre-concert parade route began in front of the new Lauderdale County Government Center, traveling down 22nd Avenue and twice crossing 5th Street—once the heart of Meridian’s thriving Historic Black Business District—as it made its way to City Hall.

Meridian’s Historic Black Business District
Photo courtesy of Facebook post by Larenzo Harry at bit.ly/44YxkQf
Building on left is the decaying E.F. Young Hotel (razed in 2023),
where Larenzo shined shoes on Saturdays as a child

It’s here, really, that the two men’s stories—indeed, their hearts—come together. Jamal, a twenty-seven-year-old P.E. teacher at Crestwood Elementary (the last school building constructed in Meridian, 1965) crowned America’s Idol. Larenzo, older, with a career at Weems Mental Health Center behind him and an avocation before him.

During the era of Jim Crow segregation, Meridian’s Black Business District provided services the Black community would otherwise not have had access to. Thriving Black-owned businesses—restaurants, entertainment venues, barber and beauty shops, drugstores, taxi companies, the E.F. Young Hotel where Martin Luther King, Jr. stayed… Many of these buildings were the site of Civil Rights Movement activities, especially during 1964 Freedom Summer.

Though Jamal is too young to have known the Black Business District in its heyday, he can be seen now in various YouTube videos walking the streets that today more closely resemble a war zone than a crown jewel. Crumbling buildings taken over by squatters. Craggy lots with weeds poking through worn-out pavement where proud establishments once stood. Trouble waiting to happen.

From: bit.ly/4dySq9Q
“No One Knew the Real Story of Jamal Roberts”

Larenzo, though, grew up knowing the Black Business District. His parents Dorothy and A. J. Baskin, owned the Meridian Cab Company. He was in elementary school during the early-to-mid sixties. His early education was in segregated schools. Freedom of Choice began in the 1965-66 school year. The 1969 Supreme Court decision Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education mandated immediate integration. Larenzo experienced that as a middle school student. His mom became secretary to R. D. Harris, the first Black principal at Meridian High School.

Jamal has said that “Everything is not peaches and cream” in Meridian. “There’s a lot of crime and all that going on. Things are getting worse. People are scared to even open up their mouth because somebody gonna point a gun at ’em because they said the wrong thing. Some days you don’t even want to come outside.”

But he has been quick to add, “There’s potential in the city, and it can be a whole lot better than what it is. So, I’m hoping that I can bring a little light to it.”

Larenzo has said, “I stand behind Meridian, good or bad. I know that we have our problems. But all cities have their problems. That’s the purpose in doing the art is to bring attention to Meridian, Mississippi, so that people will know that we’re not all about violence. We got culture here. We got museums here. We got a train station. We got a lot of historical value here.”

In the Facebook post that showcased his pride for the way Meridian came together to welcome Jamal home, Larenzo elaborated: “The content of our city’s character was on display because of one man, Jamal Roberts, singer on ‘American Idol.’ People will say many things about Meridian, Mississippi. Yet we need to remember the level of unity yesterday. No one got shot or died because of violence, and the toxic environment that sometimes grips a city didn’t exist.”

Photo courtesy of Facebook post by Larenzo Harry at bit.ly/45tfXXM

Both men have endured the loss of their most ardent supporter.

For Larenzo, it was his mother Dorothy Baskin. His best friend. The one who encouraged him to draw from as far back as he can remember. For Jamal, it was his stepmother Tabitha. The one who raised him and always supported his music.

Tabitha’s photo courtesy of Facebook post by Musical Mindset at bit.ly/3FxQ7Yb
Mrs. Dorothy Baskin’s image courtesy of Facebook post by Larenzo Harry at bit.ly/4dNZDmH

And yet their pain seems to have morphed into not just a purpose, but also a platform.

Larenzo has said that art saved his life. Deep in despair, he chose to refocus his future on bringing joy to others through his art. As he becomes increasingly better known through appearances at Meridian’s schools, restaurants, and art venues, he is also speaking his mind about the travesty of Black history that has not been preserved. He says simply, “A future without its past is like a body without its heart. It can’t exist.”

On the Mother’s Day episode of ‘American Idol,’ Jamal powerfully delivered his beloved stepmom’s favorite song, “A Change Is Gon’ Come” by Sam Cooke. He said simply: “She’s the reason why I’m here.” After the failed auditions and the years of developing his talent, he has realized a dream. Now, he is “…hoping to shine the light and show people that if you keep pushing, keep doing the right thing, do good… good will always come back to you.” He wants his city to also push itself to realize its potential.

Jamal has been credited with choosing his songs for ‘American Idol’ not just brilliantly, but very deliberately. His new single “Heal” quite precisely captures the task ahead for Meridian, MS.

Illustration by Hayyan Creative Studio: @hayyancreativestudio
Lyrics from “Heal” by Tom Odell

Meridian has a storied past. As is surely the case with every hamlet, village, town, and city in America, Meridian also has its sins. It has come through so much change just in Larenzo’s lifetime. Progressing from Jim Crow through the Civil Rights Movement, from thriving to suffering economic decline as its tax base shifted out to the county through white flight. And now, working to rebuild physically, economically, and culturally.

Matt Schanrock, Director Meridian Main Street at East Mississippi Business Development Corporation, acknowledges that buildings in the downtown arts/entertainment and African American districts have been neglected. But he shared this hopeful note:

“…we've made substantial progress in the African American district itself. Many of the streets and lights have already been beautifully updated to reflect its historic character. We're seeing fantastic individual initiatives, like Dr. Gowdy's restoration of the Holbrook building and Jimmie Copeland's continued expansion within the district. Furthermore, we anticipate significant new redevelopment projects taking shape in that area soon.”

Will this be enough?

I know Meridian, my own hometown, both as it was during Jim Crow and its more prosperous and populous years and as it has become in the 21st century.

As it was in the sixties when the Temptations were forming with David Ruffin who also called Meridian his hometown, and when they released “Just My Imagination” (1971). And as it has become in this century while Jamal grew up singing Temptations songs and chose the mega-hit for his performance in the grand finale of ‘American Idol’ as a tribute to his hometown.

Today, those Meridianites I am blessed to call friends are both Black and white. I know them all to feel Jamal’s and Larenzo’s pain and share the two men’s dream of Meridian realizing its potential.

And if the kids arriving at Aie’s Taste of Thai restaurant, clamoring to know whether Mr. Harry will be there this evening, and the Crestwood Elementary students jumping and cheering when their idol Mr. Roberts returned for a visit are any indication, there is definitely reason to hope.

Photos clockwise L to R courtesy of Facebook posts at bit.ly/4kAGQOx and bit.ly/3SWvE2f
and WTOK-TV coverage of Jamal’s Visit to Crestwood at bit.ly/3Z5vhpQ

An American Idol and an ascending artist just might be primed to help their hometown live its dream, just as they are living theirs. The power of Jamal’s voice and Lorenzo’s art testify that their vision for Meridian is NOT just their imagination running away with them. I hope my hometown will embrace the dream that Jamal, Larenzo, and so many others have for it and walk hand-in-hand toward that beacon of promise.