The NAACP pressuring a school to censor ragtime
The NAACP pressuring a school to censor ragtime
#1The NAACP pressuring a school to censor ragtime
Posted: 1/23/17 at 7:36pm
This is in extremely poor taste on the NAACP's part. Please share and spread this petition. It actually makes me sick. https://www.change.org/p/cherry-hill-board-of-education-prevent-the-censorship-of-ragtime-and-other-artistic-works-at-cherry-hill-east/w?source_location=petition_show
In our millions, in our billions, we are most powerful when we stand together. TW4C unwaveringly joins the worldwide masses, for we know our liberation is inseparably bound.
Signed,
Theater Workers for a Ceasefire
https://theaterworkersforaceasefire.com/statement
#2The NAACP pressuring a school to censor ragtime
Posted: 1/24/17 at 2:25pm
Brian Stokes Mitchell is now involved: https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Brian-Stokes-Mitchell-Weighs-In-on-RAGTIME-Censorship-Its-a-Great-Disservice-20170124
I'm shocked that this chapter of the NAACP advocated sanitizing this show.
#3The NAACP pressuring a school to censor ragtime
Posted: 1/24/17 at 2:31pm
For the sake of accuracy, we are discussing one chapter of the NAACP (Camden County East Branch of the NAACP) advocating for this, not the organization as a whole. The NAACP is a large organization made up of individual chapters. One chapter, or one official, does not speak for the entire organization.
The chapter's president is quoted in the linked article. I find his comments baffling. He seems to completely miss the point of the musical, and why it is an important work of theater both in general and specifically at this time.
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/new_jersey/20170121_Cherry_Hill_school_district_pulls_the__N-word__from_Ragtime_production.html
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
Updated On: 1/24/17 at 02:31 PM
#4The NAACP pressuring a school to censor ragtime
Posted: 1/24/17 at 3:25pm
"Why that play, at this time?"
What an unbelievably oblivious individual.
Keeping BroadwayWorld Illustrated
#5The NAACP pressuring a school to censor ragtime
Posted: 1/24/17 at 3:33pm
AC126748 said: "For the sake of accuracy, we are discussing one chapter of the NAACP (Camden County East Branch of the NAACP) advocating for this, not the organization as a whole. The NAACP is a large organization made up of individual chapters. One chapter, or one official, does not speak for the entire organization.
The chapter's president is quoted in the linked article. I find his comments baffling. He seems to completely miss the point of the musical, and why it is an important work of theater both in general and specifically at this time.
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/new_jersey/20170121_Cherry_Hill_school_district_pulls_the__N-word__from_Ragtime_production.html
You are, as always, correct. I will edit my post in the interest of accuracy. I didn't mean to imply this chapter was speaking for the organization as a whole. I stand by the fact that the comments made by this NAACP chapter regarding sanitizing this show are baffling.
#6The NAACP pressuring a school to censor ragtime
Posted: 1/24/17 at 3:38pm
People like to forget about the atrocities of the past and that's one of the many reasons why the US has ended up in it's current state. When history is forgotten, it repeats.
#7The NAACP pressuring a school to censor ragtime
Posted: 1/24/17 at 3:40pm
Here is the entire text of the statement made by those advocating the change, found on Facebook:
NAACP Members and Friends.
Please note: Camden County East NAACP will be attending the next Cherry Hill School District Board of Education meeting on Tuesday, January 24, 2017 to publicly address the ill advised decision to permit the high school students to put on the musical production, Ragtime,, with the use of the N-Word. Parents from the community have voiced their objections to this public sanctioned racially derogatory use of the N-Word disguised as 'literary freedom'. You are encouraged to come out and show your
support!
If you are a resident of Cherry Hill we especially hope to see you there. Your voice will carry even more weight if as a resident you make a short comment in opposition to continue with this musical/play. However, you do not have to address the board members, just having you there will give us
support in making our position.
If you have any questions, please contact us at 856-547-7572 or via email.
Again, Tues. Jan. 24, 2017 @ 7pm Sharp!
Cherry Hill School District
Malberg Administration Building
45 Ranoldo Terrace
Cherry Hill, NJ 08034
Hope to see you there and bring somebody with you!
--
Lloyd D. Henderson, Esq.
President
Camden County East NAACP
PO Box 53
Lawnside, NJ 08045
856-547-7572
As a lawyer, you'd think Mr. Henderson would realize that what he is advocating violates copyright law and the contract under which the musical was licensed.
As a resident of Camden County, I plan to attend the meeting this evening and make a statement in opposition of the proposed changes.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#8The NAACP pressuring a school to censor ragtime
Posted: 1/24/17 at 3:43pm
From the philly.com article:
A suburban Chicago district cancelled its production in 2008 after the Music Theatre International, which grants permission to use productions, refused to allow changes in the script.
Yet the philly.com piece failed to mention: this Cherry Hill school does or does not have permission from MTI to edit the text?
#9The NAACP pressuring a school to censor ragtime
Posted: 1/24/17 at 3:52pm
The Philly.com piece is terribly written. Nearly the whole thing is devoted to justifying the decision, with one short quote (taken from a Facebook post, not an actual interview) serving to represent the other side. I doubt the reporter, when interviewing Henderson, tried to push back on any of his statements or get him to actually justify why he supports the change.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#10The NAACP pressuring a school to censor ragtime
Posted: 1/24/17 at 3:52pm
*SPOILER*
Why is the local chapter protesting the use of a word, when the same show dramatizes the rape and murder of an African-American woman for the color of her skin (and for daring to ride in a shiny, new car)?
There's something weirdly condescending about the notion that people (in particular, African Americans) need to be protected from a word--even when, as in RAGTIME, the word is used by an obvious villain. None of us wants the word "normalized", but its use in the show is hardly casual.
I have to wonder if it's just a case of scoring an easy victory. So much racism is next to impossible to prove, but a group can win by getting a word censored and seem to have accomplished something. If so, what a waste of everyone's time!
#11The NAACP pressuring a school to censor ragtime
Posted: 1/24/17 at 3:58pm
I really hope that the rights are pulled. Censorship is wrong, no matter who does it and must be stopped.
#12The NAACP pressuring a school to censor ragtime
Posted: 1/24/17 at 4:24pm
South Fl Marc said: "I really hope that the rights are pulled. Censorship is wrong, no matter who does it and must be stopped.
"
I don't think the rights should be pulled, the school board should just allow the show to be performed without interference
In our millions, in our billions, we are most powerful when we stand together. TW4C unwaveringly joins the worldwide masses, for we know our liberation is inseparably bound.
Signed,
Theater Workers for a Ceasefire
https://theaterworkersforaceasefire.com/statement
#13The NAACP pressuring a school to censor ragtime
Posted: 1/24/17 at 4:55pm
If you read down in the article, the censorship appears to be going far beyond just striking the N-word.
Quote: "The [school] district also plans to remove disparaging lines from the play targeting other ethnic groups, [school chief] Meloche said."
^^ People this stupid shouldn't be running a school district. ^^
Why even bother putting on the play?
#14The NAACP pressuring a school to censor ragtime
Posted: 1/24/17 at 5:00pm
Why does no one ever realize that doing this stuff without permission is illegal?
SporkGoddess
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/27/05
#15The NAACP pressuring a school to censor ragtime
Posted: 1/24/17 at 5:43pm
Gaveston: Wait, Ragtime has a rape scene? When is it? I honestly don't remember. I know that Sarah gets shot when she tries to talk to the vice president.
Jimmy, what are you doing here in the middle of the night? It's almost 9 PM!
#16The NAACP pressuring a school to censor ragtime
Posted: 1/24/17 at 5:51pm
PepperedShepherd said: "If you read down in the article, the censorship appears to be going far beyond just striking the N-word....
"
I was responding to the letter from the attorney, Lloyd Anderson. It only talks about the word.
#17The NAACP pressuring a school to censor ragtime
Posted: 1/24/17 at 5:55pm
SporkGoddess said: "Gaveston: Wait, Ragtime has a rape scene? When is it? I honestly don't remember. I know that Sarah gets shot when she tries to talk to the vice president.
"
I saw the LA production several times but not the NYC. I've only just recently been made aware how many changes were made. In LA, Sarah and Colehouse were stopped by a gang of racist firefighters and the way they passed Sarah violently between them seemed to imply rape as well as murder. I don't know anything about Sarah getting shot.
(ETA I went back and looked at the Broadway OCR; songs called "Justice" and "President" are added over what we saw in LA. In LA, I believe (we are talking 20 years ago) it was the firemen who killed Sara, perhaps while Colehouse went for the police. Hence, the lyric, "So they beat her and beat her and beat her" at the funeral, with no reference to a gunshot.)
But thanks for making me aware of just how different the LA and NYC productions were.
AEA AGMA SM
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/13/09
#18The NAACP pressuring a school to censor ragtime
Posted: 1/24/17 at 6:47pm
From what I remember of the original production in NY Sara did not get shot during the rally but was beaten (there are no gunshots in the cast recording, just drum hits that probably lined up with the hits from the secret service men who were protecting the vice presidential candidate). This lines up with her death in the novel. In the book one of the secret service hit her in the chest with the butt of his rifle to keep her away from the vice presidential candidate and she ultimately died of an infection (maybe pneumonia?) caused by the internal injuries she received from getting hit by the gun.
#19The NAACP pressuring a school to censor ragtime
Posted: 1/24/17 at 7:35pm
They'll be left with two tight paragraphs on kittens that grandma would be so proud of.
Talk about missing the entire point of the show and its message.
#20The NAACP pressuring a school to censor ragtime
Posted: 1/24/17 at 8:56pm
I can't imagine Ahrens, Flaherty, or McNally are ok with this. I would be shocked if MTI didn't ultimately pull the rights. They're clearly in violation of their contract.
RippedMan
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/14/05
#21The NAACP pressuring a school to censor ragtime
Posted: 1/24/17 at 9:05pm
Should we censor "Jitney" for normalizing the word? Wtf. Stupid.
#22The NAACP pressuring a school to censor ragtime
Posted: 1/24/17 at 9:55pm
It is disturbing that the head of this particular chapter of the NAACP or for that matter any chapter the organization would be oblivious to the historical importance of a work like "Ragtime".
You Can Disagree Without Being Disagreeable
#23The NAACP pressuring a school to censor ragtime
Posted: 1/24/17 at 11:13pm
Thank you, AEA, for that explanation. I wouldn't advise anybody to trust my memory of a musical i saw 20 years ago, even if I did go back a couple of times. I had read the book and seen the film several times as well, and I've been listening to the "concept album" ever since. So it's perfectly possible I've confused things from different versions and even invented scenes in my mind.
Maybe some other Los Angeleno can clear it up for me. The attempt to speak to the Vice President and Colehouse's struggle with the legal bureaucracy do sound familiar to me, but I think I'm remembering the book and film. The way I remember the LA stage version we got from smashing the car to the funeral much more quickly.
#24The NAACP pressuring a school to censor ragtime
Posted: 1/25/17 at 12:06am
I don't blame them for being upset. Let's face it, most people nowadays are not educated properly and get most of their "news" from Fox and other right wing mouthpieces. Their children are being exposed to governmental leaders now that routinely disparage minorities. They think it's okay now to use the N word as well as others like f@@@@t. Most will not even understand the historic context as history and government are not taught anymore in the public schools.
#25The NAACP pressuring a school to censor ragtime
Posted: 1/25/17 at 2:13am
I saw the LA production at the end of it's run and "Justice" and "President" were definitely in the show. There was no rape scene and Sarah was kiilled by the police. It's certainly possible that changes were made early on, but my understanding is that the show was frozen in LA and went to Broadway basically unchanged.
...God, I miss the Schubert Theater.
