November Christine Speaks Up About Racism in Theatre

A lot of people are posting about the riots, the protests, you know, should you protest, should you not

To me, that goes without saying. We're all protesting. There's a million ways to protest

And each person finds their own voice. To me, something else has been weighing on my mind

And that is actually the recent deluge I've seen on my social media feed of major theaters

theater companies, all posting all of a sudden the same message, the same carefully worded

form letter, you know, we of the so-and-so theater company stand with the black and brown

community We have your back and blah blah blah blah blah, you know

black lives matter hashtag and I don't know like it just It just honestly it laid so heavy on me because as

a black woman as a queer woman who has been struggling to have a place, a home, a voice within the New York theater community for years

and to constantly come up against the same gatekeepers and the same systemic barriers used to silence

us and to minimize our presence and our voice. To see these same theaters now try to co-opt

the movement and perform inclusion and perform the idea of actually supporting and caring

for the Black and Brown community has angered me almost as much as seeing that video of

George Floyd on the ground with his life being extinguished right in front of our eyes

Now, some people are going to say, you know, it's not the same thing

Actually, it is. It's all connected. In order for us to get to the point where a white cop thinks that he can murder a black

man in the broad daylight and have no consequences, a million other smaller erasures have to occur

A million other smaller aggressions have to occur to send one unified message that says

Black lives do not matter at least not as much as white or lighter skinned lives Black brown especially dark skinned lives we are told every day that they don matter

even within our own artistic communities. So, what I would really love

more than form letters, more than social media posts, more than hashtags

what I would love to see once the protests have gone quiet

and the news is not talking about us anymore and it's not

it's not politically correct or serving your aesthetic I would love to see

actual structural change that would be great when you're choosing your artistic directors

once theater starts to open up again and money is now back in the forefront

I would love to see an actual structural change in the voices, the faces, and the identities

that are at the decision level of these theater companies. Decision-making level

the people that decide what the season looks like the people that decide what writers get commissioned

and who don't, who does not because that is where the real power resides

so when you willing to give up a little bit of your power to actually empower the black and brown community in a way that communicates to the world as a whole that our voices matter our presence matters that we are important and that we are human

then you are complicit until you change and until you're willing to sacrifice a little bit of what you have

You are complicit. You are part of the problem. So when I see that, then I will have a little bit more confidence in these posts and promises

and well-worded open letters that you want to put up. Black lives do matter

But we can't just matter when we're dead. Okay? Black lives. Living humans

Living, breathing brown people like myself. These are the ones you need to be defending and supporting

don't just wait until we're a headline we need you now every day okay

that's all I wanted to say I'm sure there'll be more but I needed to get that off my chest

thank you for listening bye