Clash of the Races

The best part of our American Studies excursion this past Wednesday was going to the Steppenwolf Theater to watch Clybourne Park, a two-hour play about difference in societies; namely the difference between black and white societies. The first act shows the controversy that is sparked when a black family buys a house in a white neighborhood and the second act is about the controversy that is sparked 50 years later when a white family buys a house in the same neighborhood, which is now prominently black.

This play reminded me of my favorite books: the Noughts & Crosses trilogy by Malorie Blackman. In these books that take place in England, society's minority role is played by whites (noughts) and the majority role is played by blacks (crosses). Blackman portrays the ever-present racial discrimination and hardships through the story of a male nought and a female cross who are in love but are forced apart because of their background. You should really check them out.


In the back of the playbill for Clybourne Park, Rebecca Rugg notes that when the play was taken to London's West End, it won the Oliver for Best New Play. This makes me draw a parallel between England and America. Racial discrimination is not just in our society. Racial discrimination is everywhere. In a British article I found, I learned that while blacks make up only 2.2% of England's population, they also make up 14% of criminal court cases. A review on Black America that I read said that blacks make up 13% of our country's population and 50% of our prison population.

My question to you is how did it get like this? How can these statistics be true? America prides itself in being a tolerant nation while at the same time being racist against people who aren't white. Is this behavior something we learned from our motherland- England? If you look at the statistics I stated, the numbers are pretty proportional. We fought so hard separate ourselves from the Brits, but the way I see it in this respect, we're just like them.