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I witnessed a bad thing.
Feb. 4th, 2019 01:22 pmSaturday night, a friend visiting from out of town invited me to a circus show in SF. I said yes without thinking about it too hard, because I was excited to see my friend. I also had a dear friend performing in the show, which I *thought* was an exciting thing.
The show was zombie themed. Generally not my thing, particularly because I know the horrifying racial history behind the zombie trope, but whatever. Well, then it turned out to be set in the deep South. As soon as I put 2 and 2 together, my stomach filled with ice water. I know that this show, run and mainly performed by white people, was not going to recognize the implications of mixing the home of American slavery with a legend begun by slaves worked to death in Haiti.
As the show went on, I got angrier and angrier. Most of the music was remixed or covered out of Blues, Gospel, and Spirituals. Using powerful songs of African American perseverance such as "No Grave Can Hold Me" for such frivolity, shifting the meaning into a joke on the zombie trope, is absolutely
completely
utterly
DISGUSTING.
The friends of mine who came to the show were also horrified. I had a difficult decision to make.
I know that not speaking up about racial injustice makes me an active upholder of white supremacy. I also know that one of my only friends in the Bay was in that show, and wasn't going to be terribly happy about me speaking up. I realized which of these was most important to me.
I posted a review to their facebook event, leaving out any of my smaller concerns or complaints about the content and focusing exclusively on the racial content. I knew it was unlikely this comment would be well-received by the director, but I was hoping that some of the audience might recognize the issues involved if prompted. I also reached out to my friend individually, letting her know I had been proud to see her hard work, and I was sorry that my post would probably make her uncomfortable.
The director, unsurprisingly, responded in the most Fragile White way possible. It took a lot of self control not to just take it right out of her, but that was not the point.
More to my great disappointment, my friend responded really negatively as well. She asked me to remove my post, and claimed I was doing more harm by speaking up than that harm inherent in the show content. I feel angry and betrayed, and like I just lost one of the only connections I have here.
Mostly I'm just... horrified by the overt racism I witnessed this weekend. I'm so tired.
The show was zombie themed. Generally not my thing, particularly because I know the horrifying racial history behind the zombie trope, but whatever. Well, then it turned out to be set in the deep South. As soon as I put 2 and 2 together, my stomach filled with ice water. I know that this show, run and mainly performed by white people, was not going to recognize the implications of mixing the home of American slavery with a legend begun by slaves worked to death in Haiti.
As the show went on, I got angrier and angrier. Most of the music was remixed or covered out of Blues, Gospel, and Spirituals. Using powerful songs of African American perseverance such as "No Grave Can Hold Me" for such frivolity, shifting the meaning into a joke on the zombie trope, is absolutely
completely
utterly
DISGUSTING.
The friends of mine who came to the show were also horrified. I had a difficult decision to make.
I know that not speaking up about racial injustice makes me an active upholder of white supremacy. I also know that one of my only friends in the Bay was in that show, and wasn't going to be terribly happy about me speaking up. I realized which of these was most important to me.
I posted a review to their facebook event, leaving out any of my smaller concerns or complaints about the content and focusing exclusively on the racial content. I knew it was unlikely this comment would be well-received by the director, but I was hoping that some of the audience might recognize the issues involved if prompted. I also reached out to my friend individually, letting her know I had been proud to see her hard work, and I was sorry that my post would probably make her uncomfortable.
The director, unsurprisingly, responded in the most Fragile White way possible. It took a lot of self control not to just take it right out of her, but that was not the point.
More to my great disappointment, my friend responded really negatively as well. She asked me to remove my post, and claimed I was doing more harm by speaking up than that harm inherent in the show content. I feel angry and betrayed, and like I just lost one of the only connections I have here.
Mostly I'm just... horrified by the overt racism I witnessed this weekend. I'm so tired.
