Kwame Kwei-Armah. Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

The New York Times ran yesterday an interview with Kwame Kwei-Armah, the dynamic artistic director at CenterStage and learned more about his much anticipated play, “Beneatha’s Place.” Kwei-Armah wrote the play in response to Bruce Norris’s 2011 Pulitzer Prize-winning controversial play about class and race, “Clybourne Park,” running at CenterStage now through June 16. (Norris wrote his play in response to Lorraine Hanberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun.” “Beneatha’s Place” will begin its run on May 8. The two plays, Kwei-Armah’s and Norris’s, will run in rotating repertory under the name The Raisin Cycle.

The article points out the risks Kwei-Armah is taking with “Beneatha’s Place,” which the AD acknowledges, too.

“In short, while some artistic directors might put a controversial play into context for their audiences with a program note or a post-show talkback, Mr. Kwei-Armah has put his reputation on the line with an ambitious new work that, although it doesn’t take on “Clybourne” directly, will invite inevitable comparisons.

‘It’s madness,’ he confessed. ‘I’m getting in there with this Goliath, and I set up the ring —I put the ropes in. What was I thinking?’”

Read For Sons of “Raisin,” a Back to Back Duel at nytimes.com

Usually when the subject is “Towson University students causing a ruckus by being provocatively hateful about race (or sexual orientation!), our old pal Matthew Heimbach has been the culprit. (If you don’t remember, he’s the college student who started a White Student Union, hosted a Straight Pride day, and chalked “WHITE PRIDE” messages all over Towson’s campus — right before a bunch of tour groups came through.) So we were surprised to learn that the Towson student who caused a “verbal brawl” at the prominent conservative CPAC conference by advocating segregation — yes, you heard me right, he is pro-segregation — I was surprised to hear that the culprit wasn’t Heimbach. But, of course, there’s more to the story than that.
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As part of Open Society Institute-Baltimore’s “Talking About Race” series, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Taylor Branch will discuss his upcoming new book, The King Years: Historic Moments in the Civil Rights Movement, and the importance of making history accessible for today’s youth at the Enoch Pratt Free Library, Tuesday, January 29 at 7 p.m.

He will be joined by educators Traci L. Wright, upper school dean of students at The Park School of Baltimore, and Karen Webber-Ndour, executive director of student support services for Baltimore City Public Schools. Read More →

Join WYPR’s Maryland Morning with Sheilah Kast at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, October 29 for a screening of Race: The Power of an Illusion. This free event will be in the Wheeler Auditorium at the Pratt Central Library. It’s part of WYPR’s “The Lines Between Us” series about inequality in the Baltimore region. Read More →

Discussion of the fairness of affirmative action in college admissions has resurfaced now that arguments over the practice are being heard by the Supreme Court in Fisher v. University of Texas. Now, if you’re a white college applicant — or the parent of one — it’s hard not to bristle at the possibility, however unlikely, that your application would be rejected on the basis of race. But it may interest you to learn that affirmative action is only one of several paths to preferential treatment in the admissions process. And all others tend to favor whites. Read More →

Gas station plan a flashpoint for a neighborhood with aspirations – Baltimore Brew
National Harbor casino would give Md. $347M annually, MGM study says  - Baltimore Business Journal
Funeral planned for teen who died after fight with officer – Baltimore Sun
Fact-Checking Obama and Romney – New York Times
Slaves to fashion: Jeremy Scott, Adidas and fashion’s race problem – Washington Post

The Trayvon Martin shooting has led to a lot of soul-searching about how Americans approach race. And it turns out that our understanding of racial dynamics begin to take shape early in life — and not always in a good way, according to research that Anderson Cooper and CNN commissioned from the University of Maryland.  Child psychologist Melanie Killen showed groups of six year-olds images that were designed to be ambiguous:  one child is on the ground looking sad, but it’s impossible to tell if he fell or he was pushed. Then Killen and her team asked the children questions like “What’s happening in this picture?”, “Are these two children friends?” and “Would their parents like it if they were friends?”

Researchers found that the black first-graders tended to see the images in a positive, helpful light; only 38 percent offered a negative interpretations (ie, “Chris pushed Alex off the swing.”) In contrast, 70 percent of white children gave a negative interpretation of the scene.

One explanation for the divergent views of the same image is that black parents might have more open and overt discussions about race with their children. “African American parents … are very early on preparing their children for the world of diversity and also for the world of potential discrimination,” said Killen, adding, “they’re certainly talking about issues of race and what it means to be a different race and when it matters and when it doesn’t matter.” In contrast, white parents might believe that there’s no need to address race because children are colorblind:  “They sort of have this view that if you talk about race, you are creating a problem.”

But the research clearly shows that children are aware of racial differences from an early age. And if discussions about race don’t happen at home, the kids will absorb messages from the culture at large — which can be problematic.

Oh, and that optimism about interracial friendships that black six year-olds have? It fades by the time they’re thirteen. At that age, both black and white children have equally pessimistic views. The one upside of the study? Children at racially diverse and majority black schools were less negative than those at majority-white schools. Read More →

According to Jordan Miles, on January 12, 2010, three white, plainclothes Pittsburgh police officers jumped out of an unmarked car, ran him down, and beat him. The high school student said he had no idea the men chasing him were law enforcement officers, and the police, who thought Miles was carrying a concealed weapon, later cited nothing more dangerous than a bottle of Mountain Dew at the scene. In a photo taken the next day, the bloodied, swollen right side of the teen’s face bears little resemblance to the left.

On February 2, 2012, members of a New York Police Department narcotics unit observed 18-year-old Ramarley Graham walking out of a Bronx bodega. Suspicious of the way he moved his hand near his waist, officers entered the apartment building where Graham lived, kicked down his front door, chased him into the bathroom, and killed him. In the toilet lay a bag of marijuana but no gun.

Three-and-a-half weeks later, a neighborhood watch volunteer in Sanford, Florida told police he shot an unarmed 17-year-old in self defense.

Race, many fear, was the leading factor in all three incidents, and today each victim awaits justice. But you’ve probably only heard of one of them. As outrage over what happened to Trayvon Martin one awful Sunday night spreads around the country, it’s worth considering why this case is drawing attention to the dangers of being young, black, and male and giving some thought to what should happen next.

Here’s what we know.

During halftime of the NBA All-Star Game, Martin walked to a 7-Eleven. As he made his way back through a gated community, George Zimmerman, a resident in a neighborhood concerned about a rash of burglaries, trailed Martin, called 911, then approached the boy against the admonishment of the emergency dispatcher. Zimmerman, 12 years older and, by many accounts, heavier than Martin, had a gun. Martin did not. Many people remain incredulous that an arrest has not been made. 

It took weeks of stories, but local reporters and black journalists elsewhere spurred national interest in the case before social media helped turn the demand for justice into what could now be called a movement. In rallies around the country, people have donned hoodies, much like the one Martin wore when he was killed, as a sign of support. The U.S Department of Justice is reviewing the case, President Obama expressed his concerns about the shooting, and as of this writing more than two million people have signed an online petition demanding Zimmerman’s prosecution.

In 2009 alone, more than 1,200 black teenagers died of gun violence. This is not the typical response.

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Maryland businesses oppose state sales tax extension – Baltimore Business Journal

Judge Rules Gun Ban Unconstitutional - The Baltimore Sun

Patty Rouse, widow of Columbia founder, dies – The Baltimore Sun

Black Students Face More Harsh Discipline, Data Shows – The New York Times

Supreme Court to weigh ending foreigners’ ability to sue over rights abuses abroad – The Washington Post

Rush Limbaugh apologizes again, but advertisers continue to sever ties – The Washington Post

As any Baltimorean worth his/her salt knows, Hairspray is the John Waters movie (turned Broadway play) about Tracy Turnblad, an overweight Baltimore teenager who dreams of dancing on the Corny Collins show. Discrimination is a huge theme in the story, as Tracy fights to be accepted herself, and also protests the show’s discrimination against its black dancers.

Which is why the Plano Children’s Theatre production of the show is causing a bit of a ruckus:  there are no black cast-members, and the teenager playing Tracy has to wear padding to appear properly plump. According to the president of the theatre’s board of directors, no black actors auditioned. Not wanting to cancel the show due to “political correctness,” the organizers decided to include a disclaimer in the show’s program:

“if the production of Hairspray you are about to see tonight features folks whose skin color doesn’t match the characters (not unlike how Edna has been traditionally played by a man), we ask that you use the timeless theatrical concept of ‘suspension of disbelief’ and allow yourself to witness the story and not the racial background (or gender) of the actors. Our show is, after all, about not judging books by their covers! If the direction and the actors are good (and they had better be!) you will still get the message loud and clear. And hopefully have a great time receiving it!”

According to the show’s original composer, Marc Shaiman, he and the show’s other writers didn’t feel it was right “to tell an actor they are incapable of portraying a character” because of their skin color.

We can’t help wondering what John Waters has to say about this.