Love, Alone, Will Not Dismantle Racism |
Love, Alone, Will Not Dismantle Racism
Girl Mob
2017-11-13
Fanshen Cox DiGiovanni, Actor/Producer/Educator
For the last four years I have traveled across the globe presenting my one-woman show, One Drop of Love. The first two words of the play’s title refer to the one-drop rule. The one-drop rule was created to determine the amount of Sub-Saharan African blood necessary (‘one drop’) to justify enslaving and otherwise stripping away the rights of a person. These words in my title symbolize the historical and systemic racism inherent in the United States. I end the title and the play with the word love – for the hope I carry that we, collectively, will commit ourselves to dismantling this system. However, after the show, some audience members cling to the last word—love—while seemingly ignoring the first two.
While love may be helpful in change-making, there is necessary work to do before expecting people disenfranchised by racism to love their way to change—we must insist on truth and justice first…
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Tags: Fanshen Cox, Fanshen Cox Digiovanni, Girl Mob