Blog Topic Five: What has changed since these plays were written? Are there people who still suffer like those in the plays we read?

           While racism still exists today, a lot has changed about the issues looked at in the five plays we read for this week. Like school children still make fun of those who are different and act upon their ignorance, there is probably still racism in the military for African Americans, as well as for anyone seen as different. The biggest thing to note is the achievement noted in the play about integration of black and white troops and the growing acceptance of African Americans as equal members of the military. While I don’t think there is a complete abolishment of unfair attitudes and treatment, there is at least more acceptance and equal opportunity to be in the military and fight as one unit.

            Just as there is still racism in the military, there is still disdain for those that choose to use Black English. In the past it was used as an easier way to communicate with white slave owners who did not understand the African culture their slaves came from. Recently I saw African American children interacting with their one white classmate, and she talked exactly the way they did. It is a way to talk that people grow up with, just as someone from England will have a British accent and someone from the south will have a Southern accent. The disdain once again comes from the difference people see and how they associate this language with people of a certain culture. People associate Southern accents with rednecks and some people will associate people who speak Black English with people from bad neighborhoods with low income and a lack of education, when it really is just a different way to communicate.  

            The identity crisis Bibi faced centered on dual identities from being a part of Chinese and American culture, but I think we all have at one point faced an ‘identity crisis’ where we wonder where our future lies or what things define who we are. It’s a natural way of living life. One could ask, “Am I going to become an artist or am I going to major in political science like my sister?” As long as someone grows up as a child close to or exposed to his or her ethnicity, there will be even more difficulty in deciding what kind of person to be. Bibi had so many choices, but only a few were acceptable to her strict Chinese mother, who did not support her dream of becoming an actress. Though Bibi had the freedom to choose that as her career path, she had the choices her mother laid out for her standing in her way and making her question herself. If she could not gain approval and support from her mother, was it really worth it?

            There are those who still face these issues today, as there isn’t a complete eradication of the issues themselves. They are students, lawyers, businessmen, farmers, children, writers, etc. People of color still face acts of discrimination and racism due to the ignorance of other people, and it will change their paths in life, sometimes for the better, and sometimes for the worse. These playwrights writing about these issues are attempting to make things better by educating on the experience of others, and hopefully reaching those who are in need of these lessons.  

Blog Topic Four: The Wedding Band and Racism's Origins

            All of the plays we read this week dealt with some form of racism in the past of our country, such as anti-immigration laws and internment camps for Japanese Americans during World War Two and anti-miscegenation laws preventing people of two different races who are in love from getting married. The latter problem is one that still exists today in the form of laws against gay marriage, though the thought of same sex couples is still more accepted than interracial couples in the past. Not only could they not get married, but they received severe discrimination and were shunned by the general public. What was even worse about this is that “prior to the Civil War, white male slave owners considered it their right to have sex with slave women, though white Southern women, constrained by a rigid code of acceptable sexual behavior, did not similarly have sexual relations with black men” (162). The only case when it was acceptable for interracial relations was when white Southern men took advantage of slaves, making the unacceptable cases when a white woman or African American woman wanted to be with someone of the opposite race. This is the situation outlined in Wedding Band by Alice Childress, which also takes an opportunity to look at racist beliefs held by all races.

            The play itself illustrates the life of Julia and her lover, Herman. Julia is African American, whereas her lover is white and of German descent. She suffers from the usual discrimination that plagued African Americans of the time, but she is even more prosecuted due to being in a relationship with a white man. People see her as a temptress and even more impure than other African Americans were seen as, especially by Herman’s mother. This relationship also isolates her from fellow African Americans, who also don’t approve, as they see Herman as the bad influence. Julia has to move often and keep her secret hidden, not having any support or anyone to talk to. She is deprived of the right to socialize with blacks and whites as well as the right to get married to the man she loves. Even though she is the main character showing this main problem of the story, the other characters exhibit racism that went on during the same time as anti-miscegenation laws. Herman and his family suffer from taunting about their German heritage due to the war, and there’s also a reference to negative stereotypes brought about by the war when two girls playing jump rope sing about a Chinese man. There’s also a duality to the racism, since Julia’s new African American neighbors discriminate against a white salesman that comes by as well as other white people. They act as their own community and talk about sticking together, while leaving white people out as white people have left them out.  

            Wedding Band shows the issue of interracial marriage, which I already knew somewhat about, but it also brought a new understanding through the perspective of Julia. It seems like the woman’s perspective would usually be from a white woman believed to be corrupted by a black man and unable to properly be with him. Similarly, a common perspective would be from an African American man who wants to marry the woman he loves, but simply can’t. Never did I consider the trials of the African American woman, who was taken advantage of as a slave and then is unable to truly be with the man she loves. It makes me wonder why white slave owners would think it would be okay for them to be with African American women, since they’re in a way supporting the idea of interracial couples and were perhaps the start/cause of interracial couples wanting to get married after slavery was abolished.  

Blog Topic Three: Defining racism and what it means to be racist. What does laughing at a racist joke mean?

            Racism can be defined as seeing another person’s race as something that makes him or her inferior. Being racist specifically means acting out on those ideas such as insults, jokes, taunting, and at its worst – physical assault. More often than in the past, parents are teaching their children to accept other cultures and view all races as equal. When a child hasn’t been exposed to much diversity, it’s hard for him or her to know how to act, but at this point one would hope if a child asks, “Why does she look different than all the other kids?” a parent would respond with, “Because they are African American, which doesn’t make them any less special than you.”  Unfortunately, some homes still support the past ideas that races are inferior, and may respond to their child with a negative comment or a racial joke. Even though this is going on in the home, there’s still some chance the child will grow up to dislike these ideas and not act upon the prejudice that he or she has been exposed to while growing up.

            As with any comedy routine, it’s okay to laugh and once again, it’s up to the audience members to decide for themselves. However, the environment is what changes how acceptable laughter is. At home or while watching a performance is socially acceptable, whereas laughing at a friend’s racist joke in public will most likely receive an offended reaction. However, simply laughing at a joke cannot make someone racist since it doesn’t reflect all of someone’s values. Perhaps someone is laughing because it’s truly a funny joke, but he or she does feel bad, as he or she has been taught when growing up. This is much different than someone laughing due to growing up with the idea that the hurtful insult in the joke is true.

         Racism and discrimination go along with each other, since racism is more than just having prejudice ideas, but also acting on those ideas. The difference is the specific act that’s done towards another race. Dictionary.com defines discrimination as “treatment or consideration of, or making a distinction in favor of or against, a person or thing based on the group, class, or category to which that person or thing belongs rather than on individual merit: racial and religious intolerance and discrimination.” This would be like a teacher only calling on certain students because of their race. It’s racism due to the teacher thinking some of her students are inferior because of their race and then acting on it, but she is discriminating against her students by only calling on ones of a “smart” race. 

            Laughing at a racist joke doesn’t necessarily make someone racist, but in the cases where it’s showing some of a person’s values, that person is acting upon his or her racism as well as discriminating against the race the joke insults. He or she is picking out people for their race and laughing at them because of an aspect about it that’s most likely been exaggerated for humor. The person telling the joke also plays a part, because whether it’s one of his beliefs or not, he could just as easily decide not to tell a joke which may offend somebody. It’s not just about being racist and discriminating against people, it’s about being disrespectful towards another person.  

Blog Topic Two: Humor and Stereotypes

            Playwrights of color used humorous stereotypes to make a comment on the humor that early Americans had in a way that the audience would still be entertained while still being presented with an idea to think about. Today these stereotypes are still being used by the race or ethnicity they are meant to portray as a means to share in the past of their culture being ridiculed. That could almost be the punch line to each racial joke – the fact that these stereotypes are not true and perhaps never really were.
            The members of the audience listening to these jokes who are not of the ethnicity being used for humor are meant to laugh, but perhaps like the plays written before these jokes, they are also meant to think about the truth of each humorous punch line.

Although it’s perfectly acceptable to find a performance or joke humorous, because the point of them is to make people laugh, as a general rule, it’s never okay to laugh at another person. However, when deciding if it’s okay or not to laugh, whether the joke is racial or not, it’s up to the audience to decide whether it’s appropriate or not to laugh. A comedian doing a skit exemplifying his or her race is much different than white people interacting with members of another race joking around with each other. In the clip “And Now You Know,” he was acting inappropriately because he assumed just because someone was joking with a close friend, it was okay for him to include himself in on the joke. Since laughter is not a negative reaction, he thought that the laughter surrounding the racial stereotypes made it acceptable for him to join in laughter. However, just as you wouldn’t turn to a stranger next to you and say, “Yeah, that Aunt Barb is crazy. You should put her in a nuthouse,” because he or she happened to be speaking to his or her family member about it, someone shouldn’t act as the man in the clip and add in a racial joke to the African American’s comment as a joke towards his personal friend.

            Humor does help keep these stereotypes alive, but perhaps, and hopefully, in a way such as the characters in Day of Absence, Los Vendidos, Winnetou’s Snake Oil Show from Wigwam City, and Yankee Dawg You Die show how these stereotypes affect the individual members of that race and how they’re negative. Instead of simply amusing the audience, they’re used as a tool to tell the audience in an exaggerated manner that these stereotypes aren’t exactly true, and by adding interactions with those who created the stereotypes in some performances, the audience gets to see stereotypical performances of themselves as well. Rastus is included with the idea of a typical white Southern man to show how African Americans were treated less like people and more like children – the performance is funny, but it also holds some truth for the audience to deal with afterwards (19). Similarly, the machines/people being marketed in Los Vendidos are overgeneralizations of stereotypes that are meant to show how easily Mexicans were bought and sold for labor and were used more like machines than employees. The third play we looked at showcases many aspects of Native American culture with many jokes included, but the important note to make is how their culture was taken from them as well as their land, as seen by Gunther, who thinks of himself as a Native American just because he demanded to become Winnetou’s blood brother. The last play tells of the many demeaning roles Asian Americans had to take in films and how these stereotypes impacted two specific actors. We’re not only seeing perpetuated stereotypes within hilarious performances, but the effects of the stereotypes that are portrayed. 

Blog Topic One: How have stereotypes impacted society?

Stereotypes of people of color have, as a whole, created the idea that people should behave a certain way. This means that people of a certain race sometimes feel as if they should conform to the standards laid out for them, usually ones involving inferiority. It also means that whoever is interacting with people of that race – white or otherwise - will have ideas in the back of their minds about how they should expect the member of another race to behave. This idea is outlined in the introduction to our book, Playwrights of Color, which says, “Whether positive or negative, stereotypic thinking substitutes commonly held assumptions of a group for an understanding of the individual. An individual is expected to conform to the stereotypic image of his or her group” (2).

When looking at the first chapter, we can see stereotypes of African Americans that are obviously not true and are exaggerated for humor. When watching a clip from the play Day of Absence, it’s hard to hear the actors reading their lines over the laughter of the audience. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SxanvCSzEo&feature=related

While it’s good for a play to entertain an audience, it also illustrates that people are accepting of the portrayal of these characters. They are reacting in the way that stereotypes build. They expect these stereotypes and can see truth in them, and often the truth is the most humorous. The two men playing southerners play a very typical role of being racist and arrogant, asking Rastus forcefully where he was the other day. Similarly, Rastus plays to the role of a clown and inferior character. He backs down and says that they must be right about what day it is and then shuffles off the stage in a comical manner. These characters are simply that, so it’s not safe to assume that these overgeneralizations would lay themselves on the backs of African Americans with how to behave. Still, they create these expectations for them to be jesters when they’re not working, who are ironically most often chosen as the truth speakers while the audience laughs.

Another good look at this type of comedy and the roles that each race fills is “Los Vendidos.” A good statement in the chapter that talks about this play is, “The reason Honest Sancho is successful in conning Miss Jimenez (and us) is that he so effectively meets our expectations” (59). The secretary is clearly being offensive in her questions and quite frankly, her role as a person purchasing another human being. However, it’s also humorous because of the way we expect to see a ‘government worker’ acting this way. It’s a good portrayal since the audience gets to see something close to themselves, but has the ability to not feel guilty, since they are most likely not going to go out after the show to purchase a farm worker. The stereotypes of Mexicans in this play – the laborer, the revolutionary, and the street man – also fit the common ideas of how we expect the members of the race to act. The way they’re made into machines helps detach the audience from thinking that these are harmful and accept them as simply characterizations. The final scene can help correct any misgivings about these ideas by showing a triumph over the supposedly superior secretary.