History is shaped by unfolding events, by politics and nature and culture. Today in history, thirty years ago, John Lennon was shot outside his apartment building in Manhattan, on 72nd and Central Park West.
This morning, the New York Times paid tribute to John Lennon by presenting a photo slideshow presentation of the days surrounding his death. They present photographs of a crying Yoko Ono and of thousands of fans gathered outside the Dakota apartment building (where John Lennon had lived and in front of which he was shot) on the day of Lennon’s memorial, among other powerful images.
The New York Times also conducted a segment entitled “Where We Were When John Lennon Was Killed” that asked individuals to tell their personal stories about where they were at the tragic moment of Lennon’s shooting.
Dozens of individuals wrote in to share their stories, many of them quite poignant. One individual explains that “the feeling of overwhelming sadness in N.Y.C. was palpable”. Another, who was six at the time of Lennon’s death, wrote that “that moment [of seeing his father’s reaction to the news] revealed to [him] that even a man who worked to build missile guidance systems could be shattered and silenced by the death of the man whose demise signaled the final blow to the turning of the tide toward good”.
Another, a woman who was living in then Communist Czechoslovakia at the time, wrote that “soon after [hearing the news], students started painting a particular wall in Prague’s old town with images of John Lennon and his message of peace. The authorities did not like it and painted the ‘Lennon wall,’ as everyone knew it, over. It was always renewed within hours”.
Whether it be in New York or in Czechoslovakia, John Lennon’s death was overwhelmingly felt. I certainly think, and believe many would agree, that his music and his death both had profound effects historically.
Art and artistic figures can literally shape our world and our times. I think that, as we reach the culmination of our Arts in NYC seminar, this is an important idea upon which to reflect and one which cannot be discounted. Art truly has the power to enact change.
I attended an event that took place at the Dakota the night after the shooting. Needles to say, security was pretty tight. The Dakota is such an iconic building. Leonard Bernstein and Peter O’Toole were among the other residents of the building.