Last week Broadway's Next Hit Musical performed at The Triad. It was a great show. Audience seemed to love it. Performers were at the top of our game. Stefan looked great in his dress. It was all good.
The song title I pulled was "Peking Duck". The first thing that came to my mind was that it was from a musical called "Asian Zoo". I then went on to describe that the musical was about a Zoo in Asia that was going through hard times and was serving their animals as food because of it. While I was giving this description, I could feel the air getting thicker and suddenly I realized that I had been..UNINTENTIONALLY RACIST!
I couldn't put my finger on why it was racist but I knew it was. I mean, I suppose that you could say I was implying that Asian people like to eat animals but I don't think that's any more true than saying that American's like to eat beef. Regardless, I was aware that I had somehow crossed a line into unintentional racism.
And that's, I supposed, a risk of being an improviser. Sometimes, because we are making it up on the spot, things come out that you wish you could go back and polish up a bit. Am I racist? No. Do I think that Asian people eat meat? Yes. Do I wish I had said it in a different way...I think so. Regardless, as an unintentional racist I say all white males in their late 30s who live in Jersey City on Montgomery Street and are married to a woman named Annie and have a cat named Lyle have no intention of offending...at least not unintentionally.
Come check out some more potentially unintentional racism on July 1st at 8pm at The Triad with Broadway's Next Hit Musical!!
The song title I pulled was "Peking Duck". The first thing that came to my mind was that it was from a musical called "Asian Zoo". I then went on to describe that the musical was about a Zoo in Asia that was going through hard times and was serving their animals as food because of it. While I was giving this description, I could feel the air getting thicker and suddenly I realized that I had been..UNINTENTIONALLY RACIST!
I couldn't put my finger on why it was racist but I knew it was. I mean, I suppose that you could say I was implying that Asian people like to eat animals but I don't think that's any more true than saying that American's like to eat beef. Regardless, I was aware that I had somehow crossed a line into unintentional racism.
And that's, I supposed, a risk of being an improviser. Sometimes, because we are making it up on the spot, things come out that you wish you could go back and polish up a bit. Am I racist? No. Do I think that Asian people eat meat? Yes. Do I wish I had said it in a different way...I think so. Regardless, as an unintentional racist I say all white males in their late 30s who live in Jersey City on Montgomery Street and are married to a woman named Annie and have a cat named Lyle have no intention of offending...at least not unintentionally.
Come check out some more potentially unintentional racism on July 1st at 8pm at The Triad with Broadway's Next Hit Musical!!
