Daniel Beaty is the star and author of a one-man play called Emergence-See! In it, a sunken slave ship from the past ”” with its cargo of bones and chains ”” magically surfaces alongside the Statue of Liberty in present-day New York Harbor.
The play portrays the response of 43 different characters ”” old, young, male, female, straight and gay, all of them black ”” to this puzzling event. Their reactions to the suddenly inescapable memory of slavery vary dramatically.
Beaty stands 5 feet 11 inches tall. But as he changes characters, he swells into a bigger man, slumps into the size of someone smaller, and shrinks into a child. He recites poems that he has written, and he sings like a trained opera singer ”” which he is.
[blockquote] In it, a sunken slave ship from the past — with its cargo of bones and chains — magically surfaces [/blockquote]
I’m sorry, but this sounds like a cheap gloss on (ripoff of?) a vision sequence in August Wilson’s [i] Gem of the Ocean [/i].
And the compulsory toss-in of “gay and straight” sounds like something from a district-mandated high school diversity schtick. Sorry, but this stuff just gets old.
Yes, the gay slaves, we must remember them, even though they’ve been cruelly airbrushed out of history. 19th century West Africa was a wonderful, non-hierarchical society in which blacks of all races and sexualities lived peacefully and cooperatively in harmony with the environment until they were devastated by the homophobic white capitalists etc etc
#1 Please don’t let your cynicism overtake you.
NPR is of the world and our expectation of it should be as such. Yet in the ‘drag-queen’ stereotype, which they did include snippet, there is an excellent witnessing token given if we Christian had an opportunity to open a conversation.
I would caution those who wish to comment to listen to the piece, for the first two comments are actually off topic from what interview was about and giving as easy ‘kick-me’ for any reappraiser who happens by.
I did listen to the piece and read the article.
I did notice that Daniel Beaty’s personal family issues are a drug addicted and incarcerated father and a drug addicted brother.
Also that he refers to slavery as a “memory”.
Does this use of “memory” refer to the memories of ancestors passed down through stories or behaviors?
Or is the image of the ship and the slavery “memory” functioning as metaphor for his own early family experiences?
Why is the issue of slavery so alive 150 years later, like a stinking dead albatross hanging still around the neck of an old sailor?
What is its function in the African-American community?
I understand when the most Rev. Henry Orombi refers to the deaths of the martyrs is his discussion of the origins of Ugandan Christianity. It is preserving the memory of the foundation of what is valued and positive.
But I don’t see here that the oppression of slavery is used as a foundation for something valued and positive.
Is it being used as a justification for contemporary social dysfunction?
#5 perhaps the issue of slavery is still alive 150 years later because there was no real reconciliation, no real repentance but rather another 125 or so years of subjugation through segregation and discrimination. And perhaps that subjugation and discrimination did/does have something to do with contemporary social dysfunction. That is not making excuses for anyone’s poor choices or bad behavior, but rather recognizing that there are complex and long standing social factors at play that may be harder to overcome than we’d like to admit.
Dear Rev Dr Mom,
My question is how does dwelling on one’s ancestor’s victimization serve to build a foundation for success?
I see that it does work to build and maintain an identity in opposition to the normative culture.
But for what purpose?
The Ugandan Christian Martyrs serves that in a positive way, building a community committed to a higher morality than the surrounding culture. because the martyrdom is based on adherence to that higher standard.
The man who created and performs this piece has a degree from an elite Ivy League school. He has transitioned to success. But is what he performs going pull up others with him?
In the interview he attributes his own personal success to an elementary school teacher who recognized his talent and got him special recognition and opportunities.
In my #1, I am serious about how close this comes to ripping off August Wilson’s play.
[blockquote]My question is how does dwelling on one’s ancestor’s victimization serve to build a foundation for success? [/blockquote]
That depends on who you are. If you’re the average Joe Sixpack, it does nothing good and possibly does harm. If you’re one of America’s A-list race hustlers stoking the fires of white guilt and shaking down corporations, organizations and governments for cash, plush sinecures for your pals and patronage for your supporters, it’s a veritable gold mine.
“Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive the trespasses of others against us…”
Wouldn’t that include forgiving the trespasses of over 100 years ago by people long dead against our ancestors?
Deja Vu and Jeffersonian,
I agree with you both 100%.
#8 Which play? I’m familiar with a only few, but most Wilson’s plays are set in ’50s or ’60s in Pittsburgh, a subject that he’d be familiar.
#9-#11 I think likewise this is a subject the play-write has some familiarity. I’m discouraged by the comments I read here, I could be in error but I read often a sneering tone – sad for if there is unforgiveness it more a tap on the person or people. I do think ramifications have a generational aspect, but some of those generations are alive today. I have met folks denied to register to vote based on the color of their skin (I was a registrar, so most hurtful to have this suspicion but very understandable). The play is a character’s reaction to something that haunts them, maybe unjustifiably, but something in their heritage that they are confronted and a reaction.
It is a mirror also to our reactions …
#12
If you want to feel guilty about it, go right ahead. There are lots of Jeffersonian’s “A-list race hucksters” counting on it, after all.
#13 Why thank you for your permission.
Actually, I tend to work in many cross-cultural situations. I found that many people make many comments from both a politically liberal and conservative side and I get the privilege of living it.
Ultimately if you wish to sneer, go ahead, you will not answer to me.
One question: “If you want to feel guilty about it,” – I am a set of three initials and present nothing by ASCII characters and a few smilies, what makes you think I’m on the ‘guilt’ side and the not ‘unforgiveness’ side?
#13
I assume you are on the “guilt” because of your statement that, having been a registrar, you found it “hurtful” when folks told you they had been denied the right to vote (not by you) because of their color.
#15 Yet, beware of polarizing to “black/white” there are other possibilities.