Emmett Till's Murder a Part of Our Unimaginably Horrible, Shameful Past

In last week's Go Triad, Joe Scott helped me make a decision about what play to see at the National Black Theatre Festival. Written and performed by Mike Wiley, "Dar He: The Story of Emmett Till" turned out to be a very solid choice.

I knew the very basic details about what happened to Emmett Till: at the age of 14, while visiting relatives in Mississippi, this African-American boy from Chicago allegedly whistled at a white woman and was later brutally murdered. His mother decided to leave his casket open so that others would have an opportunity to see the handiwork of white Southern men.

For about an hour-and-a-half, Mike Wiley went seamlessly back and forth among several different characters, including Till, his mother, the white woman he supposedly whistled at, and the two white men who later confessed to murdering Till after being acquitted in court. (I lost track of exactly how many characters Wiley ultimately played; one suggestion for future programs would be to list all of the characters and include a brief biographical description of each. That would be useful for audience members, many of whom, like me, probably learned far more than just the basic details we might have known before seeing the play.) Wiley is a mesmerizing performer. When he's in front of you, you can't take your eyes off of him; you want to follow his every word, his every movement, his every expression, and you marvel at how he so thoroughly becomes each of the characters he plays.

Seeing the play reminded me of something that I've long known but which becomes easier and easier to put in the back of one's mind: while America is a great and sometimes absolutely amazing country, there are pieces of our country's history for which we should all be deeply ashamed. Emmett Till's murder is one of those pieces. Audience members last night spent more time watching the play than the 12 white men on the jury spent deliberating before delivering a "not guilty" verdict for the two men tried for Till's murder.

It's been 50 years since Till was murdered. If he was still alive, he'd be between the ages of my father and mother, both in their sixties. While 50 years is a long time ago, it is still within the memory of a signficant portion of the population. Till's 1955 murder (one day before my mother turned 12 and Michael Jackson turned 3) occurred at a time when many white people didn't see anything wrong with how black people were treated in our country, even when such treatment went as far as murder. Such attitudes were still commonplace even more recently than 50 years ago.

I prefer an emphasis on how far we've come, but it's a mistake not to acknowledge how horrible the not-so-distant past was. "Dar He" makes you realize how far we've come, but it also reminds us of how far we had to come to get to where we now are.

"Dar He" is part of a two-part performance at the National Black Theatre Festival. Nora Cole opens the show with "Voices of the Sprits in My Soul." About an hour later, Mike Wiley performs "Dar He." This two-part show is being performed right now at the Ring Theatre on Wake Forest University's campus (3:00 PM start time), and it will play one more time at 8:00 PM this evening at the same theatre. Tickets are $37.00 each. You may call 723-7907 or try to secure tickets at the door. (Last night, tickets were still available at the door.)

To view excerpts from Mike Wiley's performance of "Dar He," visit here. (Past reviews of "Dar He.") Details about some of his other productions that Wiley brings to life can be found here.

Cornell Campaign Needs To Address His Arrest More Thoroughly

Jorge Cornell's campaign for an at-large spot on the Greensboro City Council seems to think that a video of his arrest that was posted on his campaign's website pretty much speaks for itself.

I almost hesitate to comment about the video. There are several surreal qualities to it: a fairly calm but forcefully insistent police officer; a fairly calm but forcefully resistant Cornell; a less calm daughter screaming about her father (Cornell) being arrested; a younger girl who is crying (Cornell's other daughter?); a woman asking for her cell phone, which is apparently in Cornell's possession; Cornell going on about his council candidacy and the current scene validating past claims he's continuing to make about the police unjustly targeting him and the organization he leads; seemingly unrelated people who are right there where the action is but who don't seem that interested, affected, bothered, or concerned; etc. (I'd be curious to know what unaffiliated witnesses thought about the whole scene.)

The best special effect, which well suits the entire scene's surrealism, came at the end of the video: carefree bubbles floating over Cornell and the police officer as Cornell is placed in the police car. (To my knowledge, Just Be has not been accused of arranging for its store to be in the background for this video.)

In an initial News & Record report, Sgt. Ron Sizemore, head of the Greensboro police gang unit, said, "They got out in the street and started hollering and flashing gang signs, and they knew some Bloods where there."

The N & R report continues: "It was unclear whether Cornell was flashing gang signs. A police report for the incident was unavailable Sunday afternoon. Gang members from the Bloods and the Latin Kings do not get along, Sizemore said, and the arresting officer, R.A. Watkins, attempted to speak to some of the men near Cornell. 'And they needed to talk to them. And (Watkins) tried to step around (Cornell) and Cornell blocked his path,' Sizemore said."

I'm probably not the only one now waiting for Cornell's campaign to post the video showing the events leading up to when Cornell inserted himself between the police officer and the man/men that the officer was attempting to question. (Video is not always the perfect evidence some of us would like it to be, particularly when it's conveniently turned on for one scene but not an earlier one.)

Cornell's campaign cites its endorsement of the Paradigm Shift. Part of that document emphasizes Cornell's efforts to increase the peace among different groups/gangs.

These are some questions I have for Cornell:

1) Did the hollering and flashing of gang signs actually occur? And if so, were Cornell's friends or fellow Almighty Latin King & Queen Nation (ALKQN) members participants in these activities?

2) Did Cornell himself participate in the hollering and flashing of gang signs?

3) Why did Cornell not simply allow the officer to talk to the man/men the officer was originally trying to address?

4) If Cornell, his fellow ALKQN members, or his friends did participate in the hollering and gang-sign flashing, what defense does Cornell have to offer for these actions?

5) Were Cornell and his friends/fellow ALKQN members aware that Bloods were nearby? If so, what kind of dialogue/interactions took place between them? Was peaceful or uncivil discourse taking place between members of the two groups? What was Cornell's role in what was taking place?

I'm also still curious to hear Cornell address some of the issues and questions I raised in this post. It's obvious that Cornell's website has attracted some interest and curiosity. Part of my curiosity stems from seeing students inspired by gangs and not feeling that their interest in gangs is ultimately in their best interests, academically or otherwise. I do think that some less mainstream leadership may be needed to lead some young people away from the negative temptations typically associated with gangs. The Paradigm Shift expresses an interest in addressing these issues, but part of me is skeptical. (The Paradigm Shift literature recognizes that there will be some, if not much, skepticism about some of its proposals.) The video of Cornell's arrest has increased my skepticism rather than raising my hopes in his leadership. If he's serious about his city council campaign, he has an obligation to address the concerns that other citizens and I have about how he handled himself during this incident.

"Mad at Miles" Recommended For Men and Women of All Races

I've read about the National Black Theatre Festival for years, but I only attended for the first time two years ago. I had an ulterior motive: to preview a play that I knew that Triad Stage planned to offer the following February and see if it might be appropriate to take my eighth-grade students to see. As it turned out, "From the Mississippi Delta" included content that definitely would NOT have been appropriate for middle-school students, but I appreciated the play enough to check it out again when it did appear on Triad Stage.

I've seen two of the plays that are being performed next week in Winson-Salem: "Mad at Miles: A Black Woman's Guide to the Truth" and "Extremities."

I've never seen "Extremities" on stage; I've only seen the movie version that starred Farrah Fawcett and Alfre Woodard. As I remember, the movie dealt powerfully with painful, provocative issues surrounding rape. On stage, this story might be even more intensely felt by audience members who will witness the action and the characters' interactions live. Attending the play might remind some viewers of the strong performance delivered by Fawcett in the main role. (I believe that Wendy Raquel Robinson, who played Principal Regina "Piggy" Grier on "The Steve Harvey Show," will be playing the part that Fawcett played.)

"Extremities" will probably be worth attending, but if you want a recommendation, plan to see "Mad at Miles." As far as I know, you can't rent "Mad at Miles," and even if you could, I'm not sure that anything less than a live performance could do its content justice.

"Mad at Miles" was peformed on Triad Stage earlier this year in its Cabaret theatre, and while it was an in-your-face performance about how too many men (including Miles Davis) mistreat women, it wasn't a one-note (unforgivingly angry) performance. You wouldn't expect to laugh or feel inspired by such a horrible topic, but as put together by Pearl Cleage and as performed by its three female stars, "Mad at Miles" brought to the surface just about any and every emotion you could imagine, making you feel hopeful at the same time that you felt the intense anger pouring out of its protagonists.

I'm not sure if the same three actresses will be performing "Mad at Miles" in Winston-Salem at 3:00 PM and 8:00 PM on Thursday, August 6, 2009. If it's the same three performers, be prepared to witness an amazing production, and if any or all of the actresses are different than the ones who performed on Triad Stage, hopefully they too will do this important play justice.

Call 336-723-7907 to order tickets ($25.00 each). If voice mail picks up, just leave your name and phone number, and you'll receive a call back. I don't think you'll regret putting forth the time and money to see this play. Just keep in mind that the content is very mature, and it's probably not appropriate to take children to see.

Here are some more details: Venue: RJR Black Box. Phone: 336.723.2266. Thursday, August 6, 2009, 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM. 301 N. Hawthorne Rd. Winston-Salem, NC 27104.

Mixing Races Led To Mixing Animals

I don't think this school's mascot would fly now. (No wonder kids used to think smoking was cool!)

Today, Rocky Mount High School's mascot is the Gryphon.

A little history to explain why the school's mascot changed:

The Rocky Mount High School of today actually took its present form in the 1968-69 school year. By then the decision had already been reached to close Booker T. Washington and to educate all of Rocky Mount’s high school students at an enlarged RMSH facility. If the actual merger in the fall of 1969 was to be a marriage of two fine traditions into a new entity, the 1968-69 school year was the engagement period. Significant construction took place at RMSH to accommodate the influx of students from Booker T. Also, student, faculty and community committees from both schools worked hard to meld the two into one new school while preserving the best of each. The old mascots, the Blackbirds and the Lions, were not cast off or discarded; rather they were reverently retired in favor of a new mascot – part bird, part lion – that symbolized the continuation, rather than the termination, of both hallowed traditions. The royal blue and gold of Booker T. Washington and the black and gold that Rocky Mount Senior High had inherited from the old Rocky Mount High School on Marigold Street were combined, not discarded. The color “blue-black” (actually, dark navy blue) was adopted by the student body to go with the gold that was already common to both schools. Student government, cheerleading, and similar activities were to be shared between students from the predecessor schools by a formula that strove for equitable apportionment. The principalship was to be shared and the faculties combined. The stage was well prepared for a merger that incorporated, respected and preserved both traditions.

My Dad and his siblings were Blackbirds, and in their lifetimes, the world sure has changed a lot. I wonder if current students know and appreciate the history behind their mascot.

Duke Lacrosse Case Should Be Used To Kill Death Penalty

You get the impression that some folks regard what happened to the three Duke lacrosse players as the worst injustice ever.

I agree that it was an injustice.


David Evans, Collin Finnerty, and Reade Seligmann experienced what no one should ever have to suffer through: finding themselves accused of something they had not done.

For a year, their lives were rudely interrupted.


For the rest of their lives, a cloudy asterick will remain beside their names.

"It’s changed my life forever, no matter what happens from here on out. It’s probably gonna be something that defines me my whole life," Finnerty told Ed Bradley in a "60 Minutes" interview.

I am glad that it only took a year to clear the Duke students' names.

They now have the opportunity to move forward with their lives.

As upset as some people are about what happened to these three young men, I haven't sensed the response that should follow.

While their case was never a death penalty case, what happened to them serves only as the most recent evidence that the death penalty needs to be abolished in our state and in our nation. (A moratorium is not enough.)

I assume that false accusations, such as the ones made by Crystal Gail Mangum, are rare.

I assume that prosecutors like Mike Nifong are even less common.

I like to believe the best about people.

I like to believe the best about our judicial system.

I like to believe the best about America.

But no human being and no institution is immune to imperfections, whether those imperfections result from accidents or intentionally carried out acts.

We can look back now and say that the system worked.

The three Duke students were exonerated.

They were never found guilty in a court of law.

But that ignores how far the case did go and how quickly things spiraled out of control.

If the case went as far as it did, isn't it possible that it could have gone further?

What if the accused had not come from families who could afford the best lawyers money can buy?

What if Nifong had taken a more subtle inital approach, drawing less attention to the case than it so quickly received and maintained? (To an extent, the Duke students are actually lucky that Nifong handled the case as he did. Otherwise, their situation might have slipped under the radar.)

What if the accuser had been a better liar than she ultimately proved to be?

What if there had not been racial and socioeconomic differences between the accused and the accuser?

What if a jury had convicted the three Duke students?

What if there hadn't been evidence to support the students' claims of innocence?

What if their reputations had been worse than merely sometimes out of control partying-players, making it even easier for people to assume their guilt?

What if they had been accused of a death-penalty-eligible crime?

It shouldn't take great imaginations to see the all-too-real possibility of others being wrongfully accused of crimes and actually finding themselves convicted, thrown in jail, and even awaiting their undeserved executions.

The Duke players are alive, free, and without fatal wounds.

The same goes for Ronald Cotton and Darryl Hunt, two wrongfully accused men who suffered much more and much longer than the Duke students even came close to suffering.

But if we execute a person and later discover that that person is innocent, we cannot undo that crime.

Such a risk is unacceptable.

It's not worth risking the execution of one innocent individual for the sake of being able to execute a million guilty individuals.

If you can argue that such a sacrifice of the innocent is aceptable, then you can argue that it's no big deal what the Duke players or Ronald Cotton or Darryl Hunt went through.

In each of these cases, it is of course a very big deal what these fellow human beings suffered.

But none of their cases would begin to compare to the actual execution of an innocent human being.

If we actually believe that what happened to the Duke players is inexcusable, we should demand that our North Carolina legislators and governor abolish the death penalty.

And that effort should be carried out on a national level as well.

Terroristic Threats Fail To Deter Couple's Marriage Plans

"Isolated pockets of ugliness aside, the whirlwind of America's College Football Couple continues."

So wrote Chris Dufresne of the Los Angeles Times, describing how Boise State football player Ian Johnson and his bride-to-be, cheerleader Chrissy Popadics, have received about 30 threatening letters and phone calls regarding their planned marriage.

The threats remind us that some Americans--"the less educated, the less willing to change," as Johnson describes them--do not like the idea of a white person and a black person being together in an loving relationship.

When someone anonymously threatens you, you're left with a planted seed of mental fear that the person might be serious and might follow up on the threat.

It's an old way of trying to intimidate people into behaving the way you'd prefer them to act.

The threats have failed; Johnson and Popadics still plan to get married.

According to Dufresne, "Boise State has received permission from the NCAA under the 'special circumstances' clause to use school funds to pay for extra security at Johnson's wedding."

Interracial relationships and marriages are much more common today, and they are also much more accepted within our society.

Even if some people would never choose to enter such a relationship themselves, most of them probably also don't pass negative judgement against others who do.

I would guess that some of the people repulsed by seeing an interracial couple holding hands or kissing also wouldn't be inclined to do much more about it than maybe share their ugly thoughts with someone they trusted to share those thoughts.

Even then, I would assume that the average opponent of interracial relationships wouldn't go so far as to threaten or attack an interracial couple.

Though it's significant for anyone to receive 30 threats--imagine experiencing that yourself or imagine a loved one having to endure that--I regard those threats as far removed from mainstream America. (I hope I'm not being naive here.)

From Dufresne's article, it sounded like Johnson had a similar opinion about the threats.

Chances are that nothing will come of the threats.

It's just disgusting to know that some people out there feel like they have the right to threaten and try to intimidate other people.

The direct threats against Johnson and Popadics are just as bad as any threats Americans face from other terrorists.

It sounds like he's taking the threats in stride--as much so as possible--but while preparing for such a happy occasion as getting married, Johnson shouldn't have to worry in the back of his mind about someone wanting to harm or kill him and his wife-to-be.

Concerning racism, America's come a long, long way.

This story just reminds us that, despite such amazing progress, we still have a ways to go.

I wish Johnson and Popadics great success and phenomenal happiness in their marriage.

May the love they share be stronger than any hate they face, now or later.

Cartoon Dialogue

When I saw this cartoon, I knew it would likely offend some people.

And that others would take delight in their interpretations of the cartoon.

Jean Rodenbough felt strongly enough about the cartoon to write a letter to the editor.

Anthony Piraino (the cartoonist) responded to Jean's letter.

Jean replied back.

Others shared their opinions also (Bishop, J.C. Burcham, the Liberal Conservative, R. Bennet, and the nitpicker, so far).

I appreciated reading the trail of thoughts on this subject.