I spoke at wordsmiths back in 1995 in Los Angeles and told the "Artists and activists" that were there that Black theater these days are nothing but Mintrel shows without the Black Face and that we should be proactive in ensuring that our children don't look back on us in shame because of the way we allowed our people to be depicted on stage. They promptly called the Brotherhood Crusade and tried to get me fired for disrupting The meeting. NOW, here we are. And these POOR misguided COLORED artists will get a TONY for disgracing our people and they know it. Dey dancin' aw da way to da banc! OH, LORDY!
The problem is...that those silly young brothers don't even realize that they're doing anything wrong. They're are just buck dancin' and shufflin' for 750.00 a week. That buys a lot of Shitterlings'! They're grinnin' and laughin' because they're happy...Bert Williams and the original Minstrels weren't smiling..THEY WERE GRIMACING! In Dahomey and a lot of the other Minstrel shows were about who we were before we werre brought here, and the Blacks had to do it in Black face then because that was the only way they could get a booking. Most of their audiences were white, because they were the only ones who could afford a ticket. So, in a sense they were waging war against the buffonery and black stereotypes that whites like Al jolson and others were perpetrating. So, the Minstrel shows were about who we really were and where we really came from...The Scottsboro Boys? is sadly about where we're (Blacks) are going.One of my elders in arts submitted that we should be one bit surprised when the next one is about the 4 little Black Girls killed in Birmingham. With Condoleezza Rice at the Piano! Where are the Picket Lines? Where are Sharpton ,Farakkan, Cornel West, and TAVIS?!!! Where are the people who are going to stand there and make those Whites look them in the eye as they enter? And I stress as they enter, because they'll have no respect for you when they leave!
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