by Ben Spatz
It has to be a good thing when white people get together to face their own racism. And even if we don't do it perfectly the first time (or any time), it's not worth it to direct anger at those who are trying, when there are so many more who don't even think it's an issue.
I went to this play at Lincoln Center which was basically a forum for white people to realize that racism is a complicated and insidious thing. It was too easy on the audience, of course, and oversimplistic, and all those kinds of things. But you can't be angry at this play for trying to address those issues and partially failing, unless you're willing to be even more angry at _Les Miserables_ and _Hamlet_ and all the others that don't even try.
I think maybe we should make a distinction between things which are good and things which are deserving of public praise. It's very good for white people to gather and talk about their racism and insecurity, just like it's good for men to gather and talk about sexism. You can't just tell people to stop being prejudiced instantly. You have to let them go through the long interior process of change that is how we humans work. On the other hand, these kinds of groups are not where the action is. The real action is with groups made up of the oppressed, and also with groups combining both oppressed and oppressor. I am speaking politically, but this is also true for theater. The action in theater with regard to race is with minority identity groups and with multicultural groups. Groups of just white people are necessary for change but they are no longer important on the grand scale of things. In other words, I'm glad that they are happening, but there's not really a need to discuss them. I'm only writing this because a voice in my head was telling me that any gathering of white people to discuss race is fundamentally misguided. And now I'm done.