“The voice of the intelligence…is drowned out by the roar of fear.
It is ignored by the voice of desire. It is contradicted by the voice
of shame. It is biased by hate and extinguished by anger. Most of all,
it is silenced by ignorance.”
–Dr. Karl Menninger
Dear BME Brother,
Lend Your VOICES to Our Discussion of “The Scottsboro Boys”
The Brothers’ Network’s partnership with the Philadelphia Theatre
Company begins its fifth year with a discussion of a singular
theatrical and historical event – a musical that revisits one of the
most notorious miscarriages of justice in American history.
The musical is “The Scottsboro Boys,” the last work by Broadway
legends John Kander and Fred Ebb. The duo chose a 19th-century musical
form associated with negative stereotypes of blacks – the minstrel
show – to highlight the issues that made the Scottsboro Boys trial an
international outrage.
We chose to partner with PTC on the launch of its “Voices” series of
community discussions because “The Scottsboro Boys” uniquely addresses
issues of race, justice, crime and stereotyping in an
attention-grabbing manner.
Our discussion on Sunday, Jan. 8, will be led by two Ph.D. candidates
in Temple University’s African American Studies program, Andrew D.
Brown and Brandon Stanford. Our discussion will focus on a number of
issues, including:
- the dynamics that lead some disenfranchised people to use other, more
- disenfranchised people as a means of gaining status and security,
- how stereotypes of blacks have more power than stereotypes of whites,
- how African Americans absorb portrayals of their own history and why,
- comedic treatments of it are better received than dramatic ones
The Brothers’ Network is sponsoring this FREE discussion in order to
advance the dialogue on racial justice issues and broaden and deepen
our engagement with history and ideas that can be used to better
understand the American racial dynamic.
The discussion will take place at 1 p.m. on Sunday. Jan. 8, at the
Suzanne Roberts Theatre, 480 South Broad Street, Philadelphia. PLEASE
RSVP at comments@thebrothersnetwork.org
Then join us on February 10. 2012 for our special evening of theater,
with a performance of “The Scottsboro Boys” and a post-performance
discussion featuring members of the cast.
