ORDWAY PRESENTS A SOLDIER’S PLAY

Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning play at Fitzgerald Theater Pulitzer Prize and at Fitzgerald Theater

A Soldier’s Play comes to The Ordway Feb 8-12. The 1982 Pulitzer Prize-winning thriller by Charles Fuller, has rocketed back into the spotlight, thanks to the 2020 Tony Award to Roundabout Theatre Company, winning in the Best Revival category.

Venue: The Fitzgerald Theater - Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, 10 East Exchange Street, in Downtown Saint Paul. For ticket information: 651-224-4222

Broadway’s Norm Lewis leads a powerhouse cast in the North American tour of A Soldier’s Play, a show The Chicago Tribune calls “a highly entertaining, strikingly taut drama that you don’t want to end.”

Directed by Tonywinner Kenny Leon, A Soldier’s Play “deserves to be staged regularly all over America— though it’s hard to imagine that it will ever be done better than this. It keeps you guessing all the way to the final curtain,” The Wall Street Journal said in praise of the show. In 1944, on a Louisiana Army base, two shots ring out. A Black sergeant is murdered. The series of interrogations that follows triggers a gripping barrage of questions about sacrifice, service, and identity in America. The horrific beating death last month in Memphis, Tennessee, of Tyre Nichols, at the hands of five Black police officers screams the pain of generational urgency and specific enduring timeliness of themes examined by this play. What happens when Black men, driven by internalized racism, turn on each other?

For Robin Hickman Winfield, CEO and Executive Producer at SoulTouch Productions here in Twin Cities, A Soldier’s Play compels us to cast an alternative vision. What happens when Black men turn to each other, rather than turn on each other? In partnership with The Ordway and Minnesota Humanities Center, HickmanWinfield is convening a Vision Trust of Black Men, creating sharing sessions inspired by A Soldier’s Play, where Black veterans of military service and, Black veterans of street service engage each other and their families and community to elevate work for justice and the dismantling of negative narratives about the value of Black life. A Thursday night talk-back session will follow the performance, encouraging veterans to share their lived experiences in the military and in the community.

A Soldier’s Play had its debut in November, 1981, by Negro Ensemble Company, at Theatre Four in New York

City. The production emerged as the most successful play of the barrier-breaking work of the Ensemble. The popularity of the production ensured the Negro Ensemble Company’s financial well-being for the next 10 years.

Back Story

In 1966, Douglas Turner Ward, Robert Hooks, and Gerald Krone began to work on their vision for a groundbreaking, inclusive space in the theatre: a permanent home where Black theatre artists could have agency over projects made for them, by them, and about them. With Ward writing, Hooks raising money, and Krone managing, the trio produced two new plays (Happy Ending and Day of Absence) off-Broadway at the St. Marks Playhouse in Greenwich Village—to fantastic critical success. Running for 504 performances and winning Ward an Obie Award® for acting and a Drama Desk Award for writing, the plays also drew the attention of The New York Times, who invited Ward to write on American theatre’s exclusivity problem and the future of Black theatre artists in the industry. Ward took the opportunity to publish a manifesto arguing for the establishment of a resident Black theatre company, and with a $1 million grant from the Ford Foundation, The Negro Ensemble Company was born. The company—which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2017—has since been a powerhouse in training and presenting outstanding Black artists. “There is no way we could survive except by being excellent,” Ward says, and the Negro Ensemble Company’s list of alumni provides ample evidence: Denzel Washington, Laurence Fishburne, Samuel L. Jackson, S. Epatha Merkerson, Adolph Caesar, LaTanya Richardson-Jackson, Garrett Morris, Ruben SantiagoHudson, Billy Dee Williams, and Lou Gossett Jr., to name just a few. Overall, the Negro Ensemble Company has been home to more than 4,000 artists from every theatre practice and background, producing over 200 new plays and creating an extensive theatrical training program to solidify its commitment to inclusive arts education.

Segregation in the military Jim Crow was in full force during the early 20th century and even extended to segregation within the military. During World War II, Black soldiers were not accepted into the Marines and the Army Air Corps (the precursor to the Air Force) at the beginning of the war, and in the Navy and Army, they were only allowed to take on non-combat jobs. In addition to the injustices that these separate but inherently unequal policies reproduced, the military had its own hierarchies, structures, and laws that created a pressure cooker for the Black soldiers living under its rule. Inequitable systems such as Jim Crow breed conflict and competition among those they subjugate as a way of dividing the population and thereby decentralizing their power. There is a long history among Black Americans of intraracial prejudice enforced through respectability politics. There was a belief that if Black people behaved more “respectably,” then they would not be subject to criticism and therefore would not be victims of racism. Many prominent Black social critics and journalists write about this phenomenon even today.

In his article, “Blackon-Black Racism: The Hazards of Implicit Bias,” professor, writer, and retired U.S. Navy commander Theodore R. Johnson writes, “Too often, racism is seen as a social phenomenon that happens to Black people. But it happens through Black people as well. That is, the negative associations thrust upon Black people and Black culture can color how we Black people view each other.”

It’s easy to see, in the aforementioned pressure

Robin Hickman-Winfield CEO and Executive Producer of SoulTouch Productions

cooker of the Armed Forces in the 1940s, how Black soldiers might internalize this racism. Jim Crow laws put a ceiling on the potential success of Black individuals, and some fell prey to the false narrative that by breaking through that ceiling they could rise above the limits of systemic racism— when in reality, this was just another “coping mechanism,” in Johnson’s words, that put the onus back on Black Americans rather than on the system that oppressed them in the first place.

2. That the Governor hold his appointed State Commissioners and the state departments they lead accountable for measurable and reportable processes and strategies to eliminate disparities that exist in and that are supported by policies and procedures of state governance.

3. That the Minnesota Legislature prioritize intentional solution making that can occur when Legislators, Committee Chairs and Committees engage Minnesota’s Black community at the table of decision.

4. Housing Invest now in multiple housing options for the Black community to close the home ownership gap.

Multiple housing options are an important part of any community. It provides a safe and affordable place for people to live and can help reduce poverty and homelessness. However, there are many challenges associated with providing low-income housing, such as limited resources, high demand, and the need to ensure that the housing is safe and secure. Minneapolis has one of the widest homeownership gaps in the country between whites and Blacks.

new businesses among all races do not receive any outside investors. Most people use the equity in their homes to start their firms. This is a huge disadvantage to Black folks in Minnesota because of the home ownership gap. Further, the report stated that minority owned businesses experience higher loan denial probabilities and pay higher interest rates than white-owned businesses even after controlling for differences in credit-worthiness, and other factors. Limited access to investment capital in its many forms is inextricably linked to systemic discrimination in lending, housing, and employment. It cripples Black business development.

2. Employment Invest now in creating employment opportunities for the Black community

In an article published by the Urban Institute, the issue of Black employment was addressed.

It stated that, “while many are heralding the drop in the national Black male unemployment rate, which recently fell below 10 percent for the first time in seven years, joblessness remains much higher in many poor African American communities. It stated that for many low-income Black men, finding and keeping work is a constant struggle, never far from their minds. Black job applicants might not even make it into the queue if they have had an encounter with the criminal justice system. Helping Black folks secure steady employment at decent wages will require resources to break down the institutional barriers that separate people from decent job opportunities and to enable Black people to build the skills needed for well-paying jobs

3. Public Safety

Invest now in Public Safety in the Black community.

Public safety exists to protect citizens, organizations, and communities by preventing them from being in danger and guarding their well-being. Abraham Maslow defined safety in his famous “Hierarchy of Human Needs“. He said that to function as a society public safety is needed. He said this safety goes beyond just physical safety but also safety when it comes to health, money, possessions, and family. Less we forget, there’s an Emotional Impact on Public Safety. When folks feel unsafe, it could have major effects on individuals, their loved ones, and the community they live in. Violence has been way to prevalent in the inner cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Playgrounds are unsafe, the streets are unsafe, and the shopping malls are unsafe.

5. Education

Invest now in ensuring that our Black students are educated at the same level as White students.

Dr. Sinclair Grey lll stated that education is without a doubt crucial to the success of our students competing for jobs. Quality education that enforces and reinforces math, science, writing, and cognitive thinking will separate those who desire a prosperous future from those who are simply content with getting by. Yet, in Minnesota, reading test scores for Black students are over 20 points below state average and math test scores are 20 points below state average. Minnesota ranks 50th in the nation for Black students who graduate on time. Minnesota has one of the worst college-readiness gaps in the nation by race and ethnicity – only 25% of Black students are prepared for college. Thus, Black students who attend college must take significantly more remedial courses than their peers as their starting point.

6. Health & Wellness

Invest now in efforts that will impact the health and wellness of the Black community.

The Black community is faced with escalating social, economic, and life-style problems, which threaten the life and well-being of current and future generations of Black people in crisis proportion. The rising number of deaths due to heart disease and stroke, homicide and accidents related to substance abuse, AIDS, cancer, and infant mortality are among the leading culprits. They interfere with prospects of longevity and contribute to joblessness, poverty, and homelessness and further complicate the crisis in the Black community. The magnitude of the problems dictates the need for support from the Minnesota State Legislature.

7. Policy Each member of the legislature, regardless of political affiliation, is involved in setting public policy. These policies should reflect the will of the people and is carried out by those elected to vote. Because of conflicting interests and capacities, some policies have disenfranchised the Black community. There is therefore a need for coherence of interest/capacities in an attempt to pass policies that reflect the needs of the Black community.

Every time another national “quality of life” is broadcast or published about the best places to live in the U.S., Minnesota and the Twin Cities always rank at or near the top. The Atlantic’s Derek Thompson once referred to this as the miracle of Minneapolis.” Likewise, every time those lists are parsed out further, the state and the metro fall all the way to the bottom when it comes to quality of life measures for Black people, or, what some have called the “Two Minnesotas.” But to ensure that all those in our state have the opportunity to thrive, we cannot forget about the communities that have been systematically abused, persistently underrepresented, and long underserved.

Minnesota is now the seventh (7th) worst state in the country for Blacks to live. This dubious recognition alongside the May 2020 murder of George Floyd has brought the State into an era of racial reckoning and has put racial inequity at the center of the national conversation, and Minnesota on the racial map. Today Black folks are more than twice as likely as their white counterparts to live below the poverty line. Additionally, the typical Black household earns just 63 cents for every dollar a typical white household earns, and African American workers are more than twice as likely to be unemployed as white workers.

Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau, 24/7 Wall St. created an index to measure socioeconomic disparities between Black and white Americans to identify the worst states for Black Americans. High on the list of cities that have extremely troubling disparities is Minneapolis-St. Paul. Minnesota’s urban core boast these disturbing rates:

• Black population: 290,210 (8.2% of total)

• Black median income: $36,127 (44.0% of white income)

• Unemployment: 9.2% (Black); 3.2% (white)

• Homeownership rate: 25.2% (Black); 75.5% (white)

• Black poverty rate of 28.3% in the metro area, 5.9% (white)

• Black medium household earn $36,127 a year — the median income among white area households is $82,118.

The profound racial wealth gaps for Blacks in Minnesota is structural, as they are across the United States. Structural racism is inherent in intersecting and overlapping institutions, policies, practices, ideas, and behaviors that give resources, rights, and power to white people while denying them to others. The roots of racial wealth gaps can be traced back centuries through racialized public and private policies and practices, which fueled economic boosts to white families that allowed for intergenerational wealth transfers and created barriers to Black families. Past discrimination and injustices accumulate and build across generations, making it hard for communities that have been harmed to catch up. As one example, the losses from unpaid wages and lost inheritances to Black descendants is estimated at around $20 trillion today. The NAACP Twin Cities 2019 Economic Inclusion Plan states: “There are two Minnesota’s, one white, one Black – separate and unequal.”

Data from the 2019 Prosperity Now Scorecard shows that 40% of Americans are liquid asset poor—meaning they do not have enough in savings to make ends meet at the poverty level for three months ($6,275 for a family of four in 2018). This problem is even more stark when disaggregated by race. 31.7% of white households are liquid-asset poor compared to over 62% of Black households.

Recent trends in Hennepin and Ramsey Counties are moving in the wrong direction. The share of Black families who own a home has declined from 31 percent in 2000 to 21 percent in 2018. The racial homeownership gap in the Twin Cities is the highest in the nation and has only widened over the past two decades, especially in neighborhoods where investors have acquired hundreds of single-family homes to now use as rentals, according to a June 2021 report from the Urban Institute.

Sen. Bobby Joe Champion’s CROWN Act and Juneteenth state holiday bill pass in Minnesota Senate

On Thursday, January 26, the Minnesota Senate passed the CROWN Act (Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair Act), chief authored by Sen. Bobby Joe Champion (DFL – Minneapolis). The legislation adds discrimination based on the style or texture of someone’s natural hair to the racial discrimination protections under the Minnesota Human Rights Act.

“The CROWN Act will ensure that no Minnesotan now or in the future can be discriminated against because of their natural hair,” Champion said. “This kind of discrimination disproportionately affects Black women, who deserve to experience a welcoming environment in our state. Recognizing the right to wear natural hair in the workplace is another step toward creating a more inclusive Minnesota.”

By

Karteron

The severe beating of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, by five Memphis police officers – leading to his death three days later – has sparked renewed calls for federal measures to combat police violence and racism.

The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, a package of reform initiatives aimed at local police departments, passed the U.S. House of Representatives in 2021 but did not make it through the Senate.

On Jan. 29, 2023, Ben Crump, the lawyer for Nichols’ family, told CNN: “Shame on us if we don’t use [Nichols’] tragic death to finally get the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act passed.”

By Rashad Shabazz

Once again, Americans are left reeling from the horror of video footage showing police brutalizing an unarmed Black man who later died.

Some details in the latest case of extreme police violence were gut-wrenchingly familiar: a police traffic stop of a Black male motorist turned violent. But, for many of us, other details were unfamiliar:

The five police officers accused of using everything from pepper spray to a Taser, a police baton and intermittent kicks and punches against the motorist were also Black.

After pulling over 29-year-old Tyre Nichols for what they said was reckless driving, Black officers in the Memphis Police Department’s now disbanded SCORPION unit beat Nichols, ultimately to death.

The Conversation

Since the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement and massive protests in 2020 in response to the murder of George Floyd, the Black man killed that year by a police officer in Minneapolis, there has been widespread interest in the problems of racism in American policing. Now, there appears to be renewed appetite for change, including from President Joe Biden, who mentioned the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act in his statement on Nichols’ death. People are looking to the federal government to address this issue of national importance.

But as a law professor who studies policing and constitutional law, I have seen how essential local and state reform efforts are, because the federal government has limited power to regulate policing.

With few notable exceptions, the Constitution does not allow the federal government to control state or local government agencies. In accordance with federalism, a core principle that underlies the organization of American government, the federal government has only the powers expressly provided to it in the Constitution.

For example, Congress has authority to oversee the federal government, levy taxes and spend money, and declare war. Other powers not listed in the Constitution are “reserved to the States,” giving them broader responsibility for governance.

The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021 offered the possibility of significant policing reforms. But for those looking to the federal government to solve what’s wrong with policing in America, federal legislation can’t ensure that every police department will make meaningful changes. That’s because the bill reflects the hard reality that the federal government has almost no control over state and local police departments.

Dollars and change

Although race discrimination is widely regarded as a major problem in American policing, the federal government’s ability to address it is limited.

The Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment promises equal treatment of all racial groups by local and state government agencies and officials. Congress has the power to pass legislation in response to violations of the Equal Protection Clause, such as the Voting Rights Act of 1965. But the Supreme

“I am proud of my colleagues for passing the CROWN Act into law,” added Rep. Esther Agbaje (DFLMinneapolis), the chief author of the companion bill in the House of Representatives. “Hair has been used as a proxy for race to deter qualified and talented individuals from applying for jobs and showing up to spaces as their authentic selves. The passing of the CROWN Act signifies our commitment to ensuring every Minnesotan, especially our young children from black and brown communities, are given the opportunity to be themselves and feel empowered to be themselves.”

The Senate also passed another bill chief authored by Champion which recognizes Juneteenth (June 19) as a state holiday. “Great nations do not ignore their most painful moments, they face them. Today, we faced the pain and suffering caused by the legacy of slavery and segregation by designating Juneteenth as a day to be commemorated by Minnesotans,” said Champion. “This is about acknowledging our nation’s struggles, celebrating our history, and recognizing the importance of forging our future together.”