Dear white America and those who pass for white –
I denounce the flagrant and sanctioned racism in this country. George Floyd was murdered. There needs to be swift justice. That’s the short version. Thank you for reading. If you will indulge me as an Iranian-American who ‘PASSES FOR WHITE”, a theater producer, a person who employs black artists and has worked and continues to work with over 4000 African American youth, children and families, a mother of a six year old, a Baha’i, committed to theater as a tool for moral reasoning, I beg your indulgence.
Racism does double duty. It harms us all in very real ways and believe me – so as we pour into the streets and get our posters out and voices out…let us consider the day after…consider that EXCITEMENT IS THE MATERIAL-COUNTERFEIT TO DEDICATION. Let us consider how to convert our excitement and adrenalin FOR SUSTAINED ACTION, small or large, over the long haul. Or else, George Floyd’s ultimate sacrifice was for naught. And, dare I say, he will NOT be the last to give his life.
As a child of the Iranian revolution (to some Iranians it was called the “Stolen Revolution”), I have seen the outpouring of throngs of people begging for a new justice, some bought-and-sold by those who held the power, the corrupt clergy and the law enforcement and some people of good will who showed up to be about a new way of equity…the Iranian Civil Rights Movement. We knew that survival meant LEARNING TO SACRIFICE. SACRIFICE for the greater good.
So I would like to ask my American brothers and sisters WHO ARE WHITE, OR WHO PASS FOR WHITE (Iranians and others) to reconnect to that special reserve for SACRIFICE FOR THE GREATER GOOD. This sacrifice does not have to be big and splashy, nor on with local news cameras present, nor a long ranting on Facebook (this is my first). This sacrifice can be in the small interactions we have in the store, standing in line, the insidious comments you hear at the water cooler, on TV, on the news, from your child’s school, rejecting micro-aggressions, JUST the way you weed your garden – vigilantly tending your garden from weeds…we need to watch out for the weeds of racism entering our homes, our TV programs, our children’s friendships and recognizing our day to day privileges – that we take for granted.
I also appeal to artists and educators (WHO ARE WHITE AND PASS FOR WHITE) – to please consider the meaning of restorative justice in our art. If the chapters of American history do not capture the truth, then write it, produce it, sing it…dance it.
Black History, is not a peripheral incident in American History- nor did it end with the optimistic ‘ending’ of the Voting Rights Act of 1964. Black history is not- WE HAD A DREAM, WE OVERCAME AND OBAMA WAS ELECTED! No wonder, that according to Time Magazine Feb 2020, ONLY 8% of American High School students even know that the basis for the Civil War was slavery!! African American oral histories were not considered authoritative sources. Subsequently- whole groups and classes have been written-off and written-OUT OF HISTORICAL RECORD. As artists, we can restore those missing pages.
Let us write new musicals and plays that show the interaction between the past and the present, tradition and experience- in the shaping of consciousness, cultural identity and world view. The arts have the power to impact diversity, to develop empathy and compassion for the human condition, and to allow us to learn from lives we’ve never lived.
In taking a deep and difficult look at the inner life African Americans, their / OUR history and even those who lived 200 years ago, we will realize that their struggles inextricably evoke our own familiar and damaged present.
And last, but not least, as a mother, I have no choice but to consider how my 6 year old daughter is mirroring my every move and inflection. I have to dig deep and ask what will she learn from these spiritually and morally bankrupt times. What am I leaving her?
Let’s make sure our kids are thinking deeply about race relations in America and learn to USE THEIR VOICES. If they are going to be on social-media, then let’s actively teach them to HOW to use PLATFORMS TO POWER.
As a New Yorker, our varied backgrounds and experiences within our city and society are our greatest source of strength: bringing new ideas and perspectives, listening to each other, we will see that dialogue and empathy are inextricably linked.
But not if we close our eyes and ears to the lessons of diversity, rejecting the validity and equal value of experiences and lives other than our own. When we fail as a society to respect learning from each other, we succumb to the nastiest habits and worst inclinations of our society, the darkness of racism.
-Mehr Mansuri
Founder/Artistic Director