A musical opened this weekend, featuring a character dressed in redface. Honestly, C-U, I feel like we have the same argument over and over. It’s not OK. It’s really not OK. Sure, the play is 50 years old, and it’s meant to show an even more archaic era. But listen, C-U, you wouldn’t stage a performance that featured a minstrel show, would you? No, seriously, no you wouldn’t, and hopefully you wouldn’t attend one either. So why is this OK? It’s not ironic, it’s not a historical depiction of how horrible we used to be, it’s just racist. One would think, C-U, especially with your history, that you’d be past this now, you’d want to show the world and the rest of the Midwest that you can be a good example. Show Cleveland how to be a culturally-sensitive community. Lead the way for surrounding small towns with still-horrible mascots. So can we stop now, please?
(Please note: the author has no issue with the actor cast in the part, just the play that wrote the character, and the creative decision to NOT change the character to something less awful.)
Photo by Scott Wells