Here in Brooklyn we've had a couple of weeks of mostly peaceful (if noisy) protests that often ended in violence erupting shortly after curfew as police confronted anyone on the streets, many trying to get home. If you think the reports of police brutality here are exaggerated, I can assure you they are not.
The scope of these protests has inspired a surge of support, and while some organizational messaging of "we must do better" is no more than performative activism, I have hope that if enough people use this moment to reflect, educate themselves and -- above all -- listen, institutional and policy changes will occur. But that will only happen when individuals have a change of heart, rise up, and say "enough!"
My hope springs from seeing evidence that change had already started. I witnessed it in late February as I Zoomed to rehearsals for It's My Party! at Bellarmine University. The student actors were grappling with the idea that white suffrage leaders in my play blatantly ignored the important role played by their black sisters. But I understood. At first I had wanted to downplay this part of the story, too, arguing it would take away from the larger arc of the crusade for women's equality. But some very wise colleagues strongly urged me to include the characters' racism in my script. And, since our country's racial division became clearer and clearer over the months I was revising, I wrote a new draft including Ida B. Wells-Barnett.
In my play Ida, a powerful voice for suffrage, confronts the leaders of the majority-white suffrage organizations. They tell her, quite reasonably (they think), that overt inclusion of black suffragists would inflame Southern Democrats, and ensure the suffrage bill's failure. Ida leaves, angrily denouncing them and their Association. She returns at the end, to bask in their shared victory, but also to deliver a warning: the fight for equality won't truly be over until all women are equal.
The actors said they were having a hard time playing characters who were lauded for accomplishing something as major as winning the vote for women, yet whose racism was so blatant. I said a few pithy things about multi-dimensional characters and the acting challenges they present. But I also asked if those historical figures were really so much more racist than people are today. My question seemed to shock them, but I understand after that particular rehearsal there were many difficult conversations between the white actors and the women of color in the cast, and in their larger college community.
That production, It's My Party!'s university premier, was cancelled due to COVID. So that message never reached a larger audience. But those in the rehearsal room began the hard work of looking at themselves, their presumptions and privileges, and doing what Ibram X. Kendi describes in his book How to be an Anti-Racist.
I hope this time of national upheaval has unlocked something in each of us, so that we can continue to grow in our understanding. I won't give you a lengthy list of resources because they seem to be everywhere, except to recommend the amazing 1619 Project, edited by Nikole Hannah-Jones, "The Case for Reparations" by Ta-nehisi Coates (which the Atlantic has made available in this PDF). and the Kendi book cited above.
And while you are reading, don't forget to breathe...
