The Conciliation Project

This past first Friday was Gallery5's Repress III show. The show is comprised of socially conscious works and receives a lot of attention from super liberal/ anarchist types in Richmond. For the show, Gallery5 invited a Richmond based group known as The Conciliation Project. This group, headed by VCU professor Dr. Tawnya Pettiford-Wates, is essentially a minstrel performance group. Their mission is:

"To begin the process of winning over from a state of hostility the good will of human fellowship. Intending to promote, through active and challenging dramatic work, open and honest dialogue about Racism in America in order to repair its damaging legacy. For the purpose of healing its wounds and beginning to construct inclusive relationships with vision for our future.

In so doing, we must be brave enough to face our past in order to protect, preserve and insure our future.

We expect to forge new relationships across cultural lines. Through building alliances and coalitions dedicated to "un-doing" racism from within our communities (and ultimately, in partnership with other communities) we can confront and act upon the infrastructure of institutionalized racism that permeates our society at large."

I was both shocked and supportive of the group for the angle in which they take to deal with racism today. The group had 3 performers in the Gallery set up like interactive museum pieces. The 3 performers were a woman in blackface pretending to be a slave, a woman with a white face pretending to be a Masters wife, and a man dressed like a Native American. They would stand in the Gallery in frozen forms until someone clapped in their face which would set off their 2-4 minute monologue taken from one of their longer plays. The performers were in character from the time they walked into the Gallery, to the time they left. It was incredible. And each time they had to perform, every word and gesture was exactly the same.
I was mainly shocked to see blackface in the 21st century. Though I am a huge proponent of talking about past issues of racism to try and dispel the issue today, I am still not comfortable with seeing blackface in images, let alone in the flesh! I was shocked to see that no one else was really phased by it. No one objected to the actors being there, no one seemed appalled or completely shocked. Yet, I was mesmerized by the actress in blackface - the vulgarity of her gestures and speech, the intense make-up and wide-eyed look - it was difficult to watch, made my throat tighten up, but I could not look away.
Apparently at the end of this month they will be having a performance at the theater on campus. At the end of their shows there is an open discussion about racism with the actors and the audience. I need to look into it a bit further, but I am excited to go, and will definitely make some announcements in class to encourage some students to attend.