Essay on Racism and White Flight

Submitted By Jashua-Jean
Words: 575
Pages: 3
Open Document
That message, delivered by Matt Witten in an extraordinary performance in the play’s first act, is nothing less vile or virulent than this: “Black people don’t belong in my neighborhood.”

This is the gut reaction that motivates Norris’ work, a riff on Lorraine Hansberry’s 1959 play “A Raisin in the Sun.” It is set entirely in a Chicago house whose walls tell the story of “white flight,” declining prosperity and burgeoning gentrification that has played out in so many neighborhoods across the United States.

The production, which takes place in 1959 and 2009, is a smart choice by Road Less Traveled Productions and its community-minded co-founder, Scott Behrend, who directs the show. As Buffalo’s struggling neighborhoods continue to reel from the effects of last century’s exodus to the suburbs, Western New Yorkers will be able to find themselves in the mirror this show holds up. The reflection is not flattering.

In the first act, we get a glimpse into the dying days of the urban middle-class dream. Bev (Lisa Vitrano) and her husband, Russ (the phenomenal David Mitchell), are getting ready for their big move to the suburbs. They’ve sold their house to a black family – though we never see them, they’re meant to be the central characters in “A Raisin in the Sun.” Their neighbor Karl (Witten) cannot abide this situation and tries to persuade them to go back on the deal.

Karl’s increasingly agitated tap-dance around the subject is met with Russ’ expletive-riddled answer, which, Norris seems to suggest, is the only sensible response. But in the second act, as a group of lawyers and neighborhood residents sit in the now-disheveled living room to discuss plans to knock it down and build a new house in its place, it doesn’t seem to have done any good.

In this act, Witten plays half of the white couple that has purchased the house after years of abandonment opposite the hilarious Diane Curley. Though he has his own woefully misguided ideas about race, he is the only character willing to talk about those biases out loud. He is rebuked constantly by many of the other characters, who seem determined to follow the same circuitous choreography around the issue as the sad sacks in the first act.

What’s
Show More

Related Documents: Essay on Racism and White Flight

Tuskegee Airmen Essay

Tuskegee Army Airfield. These heroes faced racism and prejudice before, during and even after the war ended. The airmen excelled in combat and bomber escorts. They were proof that African Americans could fly. Being the first black aviators in the US Army opened the door to aviation to all African Americans. The Tuskegee Airmen exchanged proof that they could fly in order to gain the chance of serving as African American pilots in World War II, encountered racism against black aviators in the US Armed…

Words 962 - Pages 4

To Kill A Mockingbird Racism

the time To Kill a Mockingbird was written racism was still apparent. This book was written in the 1960’s almost a hundred years after slavery was abolished in the United States. The time period in the plot of the book was during the Great Depression, around 1933-1935, this was roughly seventy years after the Civil War. Throughout the entirety of the book the author, Harper Lee places slavery into the plot of the book, many phrases and actions shoe the racism and it makes the audience wonder if the…

Words 903 - Pages 4

An Analytical Essay On Milkman's Quest For Flight

Milkman's quest for flight serves as a metaphor for his desires to transcend the limitations imposed upon him by his familial and societal background. Through Milkman's airplane ride, Morrison begins to reveal that Milkman is being held down by the people in his life, mainly his family. Milkman describes the way that “the airplane ride [exhilarates] him, [encourages] illusion and a feeling of invulnerability...in the air, away from real life, he [feels] free, but on the ground [...], the wings of…

Words 915 - Pages 4

Analysis Of Indian Horse By Richard Wagamese

a young man Saul and his strengthens, spirit and ego assurance. These are all reasons why one would be interested In the book Indian Horse written by Richard Wagamese. The thoughts of hardship such as being beaten at residential schools and the racism Saul faced while playing hockey. demonstrates Saul’s changeless inner battle and his desire to go a more powerful single. Throughout the novel Saul is exposed to many painful experiences that leave him small to no individuality and an impossible mentality…

Words 1231 - Pages 5

Race And Racial Inequality Essay

to be monitored and treated with suspicion by store employees than are white customers. Furthermore, white people walking on city streets frequently cross the street when there is a black man behind them or to avoid passing a black man. One of the best documented forms of on-going discrimination is traffic stops police for the “offense” that is ironically called DWB – driving while black. In…

Words 747 - Pages 3

Unnatural Causes: The White Hall Study

According to the series Unnatural causes: is inequality making us sick, the White Hall study was conducted in 1970s to study how social structure affects health and disease (Aldeman & Smith, 2008). The findings revealed that those who had standard paycheck to paycheck jobs had a higher rate of disease and mortality compared to those who had higher paying jobs with six figures. There seemed to be a common trend of the lower the employment status, the sicker a person is. The study also revealed some…

Words 1464 - Pages 6

Jim Crow Policing Rhetorical Analysis

blacks and Hispanics are stopped more frequently than the whites. The Police Department reported that they believe their methods and reasoning for stopping innocent people helps fight crime and is life saving. To this, Herbert says these stops of innocent people are unconstitutional and when the Police Department tried to further justify their…

Words 639 - Pages 3

A Film Analysis Essay On The Movie 42

Analysis of “42” In 1946 there were 16 major league baseball teams and all 400 players were white, but in 1947 only 399 players were white. Jackie Robinson became the first black man to play on a professional baseball team during a time where black people “were separate but equal”. By watching the film “42”, we see many social aspects of that time, including segregation and racial hate. Facing racism everywhere, Jackie Robinson shows true courage and restraint by not reacting to the constant cruelty…

Words 961 - Pages 4

Crash Movie Essay

is known as racism. It is evident in the movie “Crash” directed by Paul Haggis, that people misconceive others due to judgement on their physical traits. Throughout the movie, the characters living in Los Angeles face the challenges of fitting in a town populated by people of different colours. The offenders are the “white” people whereas the victims are everyone else. The presence of racism is the main cause of every conflict that occurs in the movie. The majority of the racism involved in…

Words 1312 - Pages 6

How Does Globalization Maintain Racialized Space?

To many people globalization was seen as the beginning of the end for racism as many were being exposed to thousands of other cultures from around the world and has the ability to instantly communicate with others from around the world causing the significance of racialized space to fall. Yet globalization seemed to have the opposite effect, instead of uniting and opening the minds of people it seemed to divide and close the off even more. This seemed to be because many people of privilege refused…

Words 2013 - Pages 9