March 6, 2009

An Angry Black White Boy's Post-Racial Attitude

Posted by Matthew Ledesma at 10:16AM

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Photo courtesy of the San Francisco Chronicle

“Post-racial America:" The mainstream media’s asinine term and assumption for that which was supposed to take place on January 20, 2009, when Obama officially entered the White House.

At the Sunday night showing of the play Angry Black White Boy in San Francisco, actor/writer Dan Wolf closed by reminding the audience that just because we have Black man as President, the problems of racism continue to exist within America. Just ask the families of Oscar Grant, Robert Tolan, Adolph Grimes, and Annette Garcia. Just because Michael Steele became de jure leader of the GOP and Bobby Jindal has been brought to the national attention, it speaks more about tokenism than progress.

San Francisco’s Intersection for the Arts presented the live play adaptation of Adam Mansbach’s Angry Black White Boy: or the Miscegenation of Macon Detornay. The novel, set in late '90s Manhattan, is about anti-racist college student, Macon Detornay. Macon could best be described as the characterization of Jus Rhymes from ego trip’s The (White) Rapper Show, a middle class white hip-hop head ashamed of whiteness and white privilege. But more than this is the irony of Macon’s Jewish-American identity and the the numbers he has tattooed on his arm. The numbers: 042992, the date the Los Angeles riots broke out in reaction to the acquittal of the police officers who beat down Rodney King.

Wolf’s adaptation, in which he stars as Macon, captures the overlying story line of the novel. The audience sees the overall influence Hip-Hop has on the young Boston (suburban) native, who flamboasts to his college roommate, Andre, about old KDAY tapes he would get from a cousin’s friend, showcasing his knowledge of West Coast hip-hop prior to Straight Outta Compton.

Having reached the breaking point, Macon begins robbing yuppie white businessmen in an attack on whiteness. After gaining notoriety, and after false media reports identify the robber as a black man, Macon haphazardly decides to stage a national “Day of Apology” for white people to say “sorry." The idea, taken from a rhetorical statement Malcolm X made regarding what white people could do to help out the Black liberation movement, proves to be more than what Macon had asked.

Beat-boxing, recitations of classic hip-hop joints, live synth-based music, and dance offer the audience an engaging experience. Initially, one might find some of the movements awkward and pressured. For those who have had the experience of interacting with some overly knowledgeable backpackers (my polite way of saying 'hip-hop nerds'), rhythm is often compensated with their ability to recite the entirety of BDP's Criminal Minded. Thus, Wolf’s Macon gets a pass for his forced head bobs and forced cypher hands.

The four-man ensemble provides the wit, humor, and biting social commentary that were essential to the style in Mansbach’s novel. Macon is more antagonistic and dislikeable than what one may have imagined when reading the book, but his holier than thou Hip-Hop attitude and persona were maintained. Rebellious and quick acting to a fault, Macon’s irrationality almost embodies the misdirection with which hip-hop is known grapple.

One would ask how a white kid from the suburbs comes to create a movement dubbed the “race traitor project”? Macon would respond back asking how come more kids from his same background do not end up just like him, embittered at a society ignorant and arrogant at acknowledging the existence of racism. There is Father Michael Pfleger, a white priest from Chicago, who was thrown into the spotlight last summer and labeled a “race traitor” for being a strong ally for racial justice. While Pfleger did not have the same swagger as Macon, his personification as a person of white privilege attempting to push for a true post-racial America summarizes the long journey that still needs to take place for real progress.

If Macon were to witness the current political events of today, what would he think? The continued police brutality would of course be discussed. Though, he might start off by shaking his head at the co-optation of hip-hop by the GOP as a justified opportunity to have another unneeded MC Rove moment, maybe this time with Bobby Jindal.

The show continues at Intersection for the Arts until March 8.