Posted on 02/01/2007 3:51:54 PM PST by neverdem
There is a play running at a small theatre in Philadelphia right now where one of the main characters is based on, of all people, me. It is neither about nor aimed at Black History Month -- but it has major implications for how we should celebrate it.
The play is called A House with No Walls, and there are two things about it that have given me immense pleasure.
One is that the character glides around the stage making speeches full of passages drawn straight from my writing on race. No author could help but eat this up.
The other thing, however, and the more important one, is that the character is not depicted as an ass.
When you are a black person known for views on race that do not jibe with bien-pensant thought, your work is highly subject to misinterpretation. There is an assumption out there that the take on race of most sociologists and black professors is less opinion than enlightenment itself. It follows naturally from this perception that black people who broadcast other opinions must be somehow immoral.
As such, one gets used to being pilloried as less than human by a minority of black people and some white ones. I am sometimes almost awed by the deftness of the fantasies some people out there have about me, Shelby Steele, Ward Connerly, and the rest, about our "motivations," childhood hangups, and so on.
I have always kind of assumed, in fact, that one of these days, somebody somewhere would write a play about black issues where one of the characters was a starchy black professor who left academia to "sell out" making big bucks...
--snip--
And instead, in House With No Walls we have a black conservative character who is, quite simply, a normal person.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
bump
Next somebody will notice that Dungey and Smith are good coaches, not just black ones.
OMG....I almost FORGOT! February is BLACK HISTORY MONTH!
Isn't this guy a black conservative?
That's my impression. He's no lefty.
He's INTELLIGENT....must be a Conservative!
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
if he is clean, he's a democrat...
Hardly.
Absolutely! If you ever get a chance to hear him on Fox or other TV, you want to take the time to listen. He's good. I believe that he is a linguist.
I KNOW...he's a CONSERVATIVE....I LIKE him.....he's clean and articulate.
we have a black conservative character who is, quite simply, a normal person
** OMG!!!!!!! This can't possibly BE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! btw, good article.
I forgot too because I don't live in New York anymore but now that it's here...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Schuyler
Thanks for the interesting link. Are you out of NY State?
Yes I'm living in rural PA. Has it's benefits and drawbacks, more benefits than drawbacks like fresh air :-)
A very positive article! Cheers John McWhorter!
Thanks for that link....I'm always learning!
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