Letter to the Editor: Why I walked out of a play at the Arts Academy Charter School

“Dance! Dance Rosa! Dance!” And Rosa, dressed in a beautiful Spanish-Mexican traditional outfit, would dance all in attempt at seducing the doctor in order to get his money.

On Oct. 22, 2014, I attended a theater play with my friends at the Arts Academy Charter School (AACS) in Bethlehem. We were very excited to see young actors and actresses performing on stage – the school was very famous.

Personally, I believe art has the power to humanize individuals. It is a tremendous tool that communicates a message by touching our spirit. Art helps us to understand that humans are complex individuals capable of creating, feeling and performing masterpieces. On the other hand, art can also be used as a tool for strengthening structures of oppression already in place in our society. This play made me think about art as the latter expression, as a tool of oppression.

Since structures of oppression have been the foundations of the American society, discriminatory practices are “normalized” into the use of stereotypes and how the political and economic system benefit few and harm most. The danger of seeing dehumanizing practices as “normal” is that we may not feel the need to change the culture that validates them. On the contrary, we tend to replicate them under the guise of normalcy. And that is what happened at the theater play that we attended at the AACS. There, I realized that we have become complacent with seeing structural racism in many forms — even art.

In the play, a woman was in love with a handsome doctor. There were several barriers to their love that would build the drama of the story. One of them was Rosa. Rosa, a Latino-looking woman, would seduce the handsome doctor with her exotic dresses and dances. Rosa was the barrier, and she was portrayed as the indecent character that would do anything for money. Next, violence and alcoholism was represented in Rosa’s father, again a Latino-looking old man that, while being drunk, would use his gun to threaten the doctor for fooling around with his daughter. In a sudden scene, Rosa’s father shot the doctor to death.

The play was about two hours long, and the short few scenes in which Latin-American heritage was presented were full of indecency, addiction, violence and killing.

I would have been more tolerant about the misrepresentation of the Latino culture if what I was seeing were a Hollywood movie or some other money-driven show. But I was in one of the most prestigious high schools in the Lehigh Valley. I was in a place where students are to be formed and transformed into socially responsible citizens. Therefore, I was disappointed and could not stand that this particular play that perpetuated cultural stereotypes – the ever-present illness of the United States—was being performed in such an important institution. Therefore, an hour in, I stood up and left the auditorium.

Regardless of malign intent or benign ignorance, this play buttressed cultural oppression by grossly over-characterizing Latinos and Latinas as deviant, less civilized than whites, and as an unwelcomed population in our society. Therefore, the school, as an educational and transformative institution, has to be held responsible for fostering this narrative. We are no longer in an age where cultural discrimination can be justified and forgiven by claiming unawareness, ignorance, or — in the worst case — freedom of expression.

This high school will be moving very soon to the South Side of Bethlehem, an overwhelmingly Latino area. I would expect that the school becomes more aware about how implicitly and covertly racism takes place in our society, and so much more mindful of how it teaches art.

My experience at that play shows how easy, subtle and unintentionally we reinforce stereotypes in the United States. Events like this, that normalize cultural misconceptions, will still happen even in the best schools if nobody speaks up against them.

I am completely aware that discussing these topics is very difficult in the United States. It is truly uncomfortable. People simply avoid it. Because there is a belief that racism has been overcome, whoever talks about it is generally seen as mistaken, as if he or she is unnecessarily overreacting, stuck in the past, trying to offend someone, or that, simply, his or her arguments are dismissed for lacking “empirical support.” But do not allow these attempts to shut you down, for they are just self-defense tactics that the oppressive system uses to perpetuate itself. Indeed, if you experience some sort of retaliation or reaction, that means you are hitting the right spot. You are possibly challenging someone’s racial privilege.

The more often we call out these discriminatory practices, and the more people commit to speaking up against them, the more likely individuals and institutions would be mindful and culturally aware of the decisions that they make, and how they speak and act.

My call to action for everyone is to have the courage to challenge every single attitude, behavior, or procedure that may perpetuate oppression, no matter how small those actions may seem. Otherwise, the country of justice and dignity for all that Dr. King dreamt about will remain as just that: a dream.

Gerardo Calderón earned his M.A. in political science from Lehigh in 2014. He is now a Lehigh staff member and works on community issues for the South Side Initiative with Breena Holland, associate professor of political science and the environmental initiative at Lehigh.