The fact is this first strain of racism has endured for the entire history of the country and has been generally accepted, particularly against a certain ethnic group that begins with a J -- and not the one you might expect.
"Some slam ‘racist’ stereotypes in play at Newton North" by Ellen Ishkanian | Globe correspondent March 18, 2014
When the movie starring Julie Andrews premiered in 1967, it was proclaimed “thoroughly delightful” by The New York Times and praised for its flapper costumes, dancing, humor, and singing.
Forty-seven years later, a stage version of “Thoroughly Modern Millie” performed at Newton North High School is triggering a backlash from some Asian-Americans who say the musical’s racial stereotypes are hurtful and unacceptable.
“We would never do anything anti-Jewish, or anti-African-American. Blackface is unthinkable, but yellowface is utterly fine,” said Newton resident Mia Wenjen, whose Pragmatic Mom blog brought attention to the debate.
At a community meeting in Newton Monday night, the theater director apologized. “I’m sorry, I am so, so sorry you are feeling the anger you are feeling,” said Adam Brown, director of Theatre Ink, which staged the play over the weekend. “We blew it. I’m sorry.”
Though the play’s brief run is over, the controversy raises questions about whether certain American musicals conceived during a different era — “West Side Story” often comes to mind — have any place in today’s theaters.
It’s a difficult question that is the subject of much current debate, said Carol J. Oja, the William Powell Mason professor of music and American studies at Harvard University, who said there are no easy answers.
“Being sensitive is really important,” she said, noting that several Broadway classics such as “Show Boat,” “The King and I,” and “Flower Drum Song” also contain racial stereotypes that are troubling to today’s audiences.
Oja said directors can take a number of steps to help actors and the community understand the context in which these works were written, and to lessen the negative implications. “If the stereotypes are kept intact, they have to be done with a lot of teaching,” Oja said.
Another option would be to go through and rewrite parts that are offensive, as Brookline High did in its production of the play.
But that approach, Oja said, runs the risk of eliminating an entire generation of American history.
“If the shows are all sanitized, then you lose track of our history,” she said. “If we start erasing every troubling part of history, we run the risk of repeating it.”
The outrage in Newton, playing out on several community blogs and on social media, revolves around three characters in the 2002 Broadway show, based on the 1967 film. Ching Ho and Bun Foo, are two hapless Asian laundrymen controlled by Mrs. Meers, a character with chopsticks in her bun, who speaks in a farcical Chinese accent as she uses the men to kidnap unsuspecting young girls staying at her hotel to be sold as sex slaves.
Nearly 17 percent of students in Newton’s public schools are Asian, said David Fleishman, the city’s superintendent of schools. Residents who identified only as Asian made up 11.5 percent of the city’s population in the 2010 US Census.
Newton North principal Jennifer Price said Monday that administrators have learned through the experience and stressed that the school in no way condones racism.
“We can say very clearly, it is not what Newton North believes in,” she said. “We very much at this school are so proud of the diversity. It defines us.”
She added: “As a white school administrator, I can try to understand, but I cannot truly understand what the Chinese members of our community felt. . . . Our biggest regret is that any member of our community felt marginalized.”
The play was nearly sold out Saturday night.
At Monday night’s meeting — which drew about 60 parents, students, teachers, and administrators — many said the decision to perform the play brought back feelings of anger that they had learned to hide.
For some, the toughest part of the experience was having their feelings invalidated by a community they said does not understand the discrimination felt by minorities in America.
“You have bullied a whole community of Asian-Americans, just like that,” said one man.
Brown said he understood the complaints. “I’m glad we are here having this conversation, but it hurts,” he said. “I thought we could figure it all out and make it work. I know it’s too late. We’ve hurt people. We can sit here and say, ‘It’s theater, it’s OK,’ but it’s not.”
The show’s director, Brad Jensen, who teaches English at Newton North, said before Monday night’s forum that a great deal of effort was made as far back as October to use the script to teach students about the racial stereotypes depicted by the characters.
“We tried to fully develop the characters,” he said. “The two men were not just Mrs. Meers’s henchmen, but fully developed human beings who struggled with their decision to go along with her plans.
“It’s not a perfect show, and we knew that,” Jensen said.
Kelsey Fox, a student who played the character of Mrs. Meers in the Newton North production, said all the students involved with the show have learned valuable lessons.
“We started a conversation schoolwide, and we learned how to listen,” she said.
“At the beginning of this process, we didn’t know how to be the best allies to our classmates; now we do, we understand the history.”
“Millie” has raised concerns at other schools. The Dalton School, a private school in Manhattan, performed a sanitized version with the playwright’s permission after initially deciding to cancel the show, the New York Times reported in January. Brookline High School performed its own revised version last month.
“I felt strongly the script was disrespectful,” said the Brookline director, Christien Polos. He and students rewrote the part of Mrs. Meers to change her from Chinese to Southern American and turned the two Chinese laundrymen into undercover police officers.
“We thought it was important to bring it in line with 21st century thinking,” he said.
In Newton, Jenny Chou, a Chinese-American who grew up in the Midwest, said in an interview that the Newton North performance not only brought back memories of discrimination from her childhood, but it meant watching her son make the decision to sit out auditions for something he had long looked forward to.
Chou said she and her husband, who is British, wondered why their son, a sophomore at Newton North, was not more excited about upcoming auditions for “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” a show they knew nothing about.
Their son had been in last year’s performance of “How to Succeed in Business” and is an involved member of the theater community at the school.
“Finally he said to us: ‘I’m not sure about this show, I’m not sure I’d want Ama and Agong to have to see it,’” she said, referring to his grandparents, Chou’s parents, who had recently moved to the area. In the end, he decided to be a part of the stage crew.
Chou said she attended a performance, and found it difficult to sit through, reminding her of her university professor father being told to go back to China because of his accent.
When her son decided not to participate on stage in the show, Chou said she privately met with the theater department staff, but she did not speak out publicly.
“Maybe there is some work that can be done in the greater Newton community to make people understand why this is troubling for some people and why it should be troubling for more.”
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How could that happen in a nice place like Newton?
NEXT DAY UPDATE:
‘Millie’ fight creates a chilling effect
A trip to the theater, and a reason to question stereotypes
Just another reason to pass on the tickets.
"Bedford faces anti-Semitic incidents in its schools" by Jennifer Fenn Lefferts | Globe correspondent March 13, 2014
The Bedford school superintendent said he is taking swift action with police, clergy, and town officials to address a string of anti-Semitic incidents that have taken place in three schools this year, including hateful graffiti at the high school and a game among elementary school students in which Jews were being targeted and “jailed’’ by Christians.
Walking in Palestinian shoes, huh?
Superintendent Jon Sills said an elementary school student said she was told that her country would be destroyed because she is Jewish, and another child was told by a peer that she could not have a cracker because Jews do not believe in Jesus Christ.
School and town officials said they will not tolerate the behavior....
Mike Rosenberg, a member of Bedford’s Board of Selectmen and an active member of the town’s Jewish community, said he is saddened by the incidents but is satisfied they are being addressed.
He praised Sills for his quick response and making sure the issues were brought to light.
“It’s very troubling and disappointing when children that small are saying hurtful things they don’t even understand,’’ Rosenberg said. “It’s troubling to consider where they might be hearing some of these things, from television, adults or the community.’’
Unless it's little Zionist settlers signing bombs destined for Lebanon.
Rosenberg said he has lived in town for 40 years and does not think the incidents are reflective of Bedford as a whole. He described the town as a diverse community that educates a variety of students through the Metco program and from Hanscom Air Force Base.
“This is a good place,’’ Rosenberg said. “A bad thing happened, and we’re going to go after it. To me, it’s the response to an episode like this that will define us.’’
Sills said the first incident took place last fall at the high school. Swastikas and “Kill the Jews’’ graffiti were found, prompting a school and police investigation, but no arrests were made.
The hallmark of a self-inflicted false flag hoax!
Following the graffiti incidents, school, clergy, town, and community leaders met to share information and discuss responses, he said. They also began a working relationship with the educational group Facing History and Ourselves.
I have, and that's why the Jewish narrative of lies I was taught and see every day causes so much distress.
The principal held several meetings at the high school, during which a few of the Jewish students described some of the difficulties they have experienced growing up as a minority in Bedford....
I've tuned out the whining and crying, sorry.
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“The reality is anti-Semitism exists.’’
Yeah, in one false flag form or fashion I suppose.
Then there are the dead Palestinians as evidence of anti-Semitism.
Fellow Yankees are almost as bad them redneck Texans:
"Texas students cancel ‘illegal immigrant game’" Associated Press November 20, 2013
AUSTIN, Texas — A conservative student group at the University of Texas canceled their ‘‘Catch an Illegal Immigrant Game’’ on Tuesday, saying they feared retaliation by campus officials and counterprotests that could endanger their volunteers.
In the event that had been planned for Wednesday, members of the Young Conservatives of Texas would have worn signs that said ‘‘illegal immigrant’’ and offered $25 gift cards to students who caught them and turned them in to the club.
Group chairman Lorenzo Garcia acknowledged the idea was ‘‘over the top’’ but said students should ‘‘not be silenced when they attempt to make their voices heard about an issue that is so important to our futures.’’
‘‘I believed that our event would spark this discussion on campus,’’ he said. ‘‘I hope that the publicity surrounding the event will create debate among students.’’
More division when the real problems are Zionist control of this government's foreign policy and Wall Street control over Congre$$ and the economy.
We all being f***ed by them regardless of race, gender, religion, sex pref, etc, etc, etc. That's why we get this shit in the paper.
The Texas Dream Act allows students who were brought to the United States illegally as children to pay in-state tuition at public universities, a provision many Republicans want to repeal. Such students sometimes rally in support of the federal Dream Act that could provide them with a path to citizenship.
Several groups had planned to protest the game. A Latino activist group in favor of a more open immigration policy had promised to hand out free ‘‘illegal immigrant’’ signs to students so they could collect the gift cards.
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Also see: Plowing Through This Texas Post
I kind of am plowing through them all these days, yeah, and the next four days are going to get a lot worse because of tournament basketball. I'll try to keep you updated in the early mornings, but after that I'm gone. I suspect many clipped and cut articles and other unread sections of my Globe may soon be gone as well.
