The Great White Hope

Before menacing Mike Tyson, before trash-talking (but ultimately truth-telling) Muhammad Ali, before gentlemanly Joe Louis ... indeed, before any of them, there was the flamboyant, larger-than-life character of Jack Johnson ... the first black man to hold the world's heavyweight boxing title. He won the crown back in the day when it really meant something -- indeed, everything -- to sporting fans around the globe. He was, in fact, the first hero black Americans could claim and call their own.

When Johnson won the championship belt from Tommy Burns in 1908, it represented the pinnacle of strength, virility, and racial superiority; indeed, at the time there was no other measure of manhood, no other prize worth possessing, and no other trophy worth treasuring. The champ was, in essence, King Shit ... the baddest dude on the planet -- and now he was black. What was the world coming to?

When Johnson won the crown, a great outcry for a "white hope" to step up and take it back from this black interloper was immediately raised in the press throughout the land. Sure, there were other blacks of accomplishment of that era who were tolerated by whites: W.E.B. Dubois, who could construct magnificently written arguments against racism; George Washington Carver, who could do equally magnificent things with the lowly peanut; but Jack Johnson -- he was different -- he could do magnificent things with his fists ... like whip your ass. He wasn't your "polite" Negro. Indeed, he served up ass-whippings like they were the $3.99 blue-plate special at the local Cracker Barrel.

That fact -- in and of itself -- was certainly enough for Johnson to earn the enmity of white folks, but, in addition to his punishing pugilistic skills, he also had a predilection for white women -- which threw gallons of fuel oil on the already hot coals of racial hatred that glowed menacingly around him and dogged his footsteps virtually his entire life. This was the era of Jim Crow, and this big black buck didn't know his "place." Clearly, something had to be done.

This, then, is the backdrop, the Zeitgeist, and the genesis of the story for the brilliant Howard Sackler play, "The Great White Hope," which first opened to rave reviews in 1967 in Washington, DC. The production then went on to an extended run at the Alvin Theatre in New York City and the leading actors, James Earl Jones and Jane Alexander, both garnered Tony Awards for their roles. In 1970, the play was adapted for a film of the same name, with the same duo reprising their performances for posterity.

Although a greatly treasured slice of American dramaturgy, the work is rarely produced due to the sheer logistics associated with mounting such a large cast play: even with double-casting in some roles it still calls for a contingency of 40 thespians to do justice to the production ... which is exactly what Karamu's Artistic Director, Terrance Spivey, does to the work: Justice. Even on Opening Night, which can be known for glitches and sometimes outright disasters, the production was as tight as a drum and resonated with the excitement, sense of immediacy, and up-close intimacy only live theatre can create.

Perhaps another reason the play isn't mounted more often has to do with racial/sexual politics: This is the story of a black man who renounces black women in favor of white women. Sadly, some potential theatergoers get hung up on that aspect of the work and miss out on the larger themes the playwright presents. Nonetheless, the largest segment of theatergoers (especially black theatergoers) today happens to be women ... some of whom may or may not be able to put aside their antipathy for an evening of great theatre -- which would, of course, be a great shame.

The main character, Jack Jefferson (the playwright elected to use another name to allow himself more literary license with the facts of Johnson's life), is played brilliantly by Anthony Elforzia Nickerson-El, and his paramour, Eleanor Bachman, is portrayed just as brilliantly by Ursula Cataan, in her Karamu debut. However, this finely-crafted play has numerous other meaty roles, and Skip Corris makes you hate him as Cap n' Dan, the character who represents all of the bigotry and hatred in the world at the time. Rodney Freeman, who plays three characters, is smugly despicable as the federal prosecutor who twists the law to his own ends, and Tina Thompson's portrayal of Clara (Jefferson's spurned former girlfriend) is full of fire, venom and spite. Thompson never disappoints. Additionally, the stagecraft -- the set, the lighting, the costumes -- is lean, spare and esthetically perfect for the period and the production.

When the former undefeated heavyweight champion, James Jeffries, is lured out of a six-year retirement to fight Jefferson he becomes known as the "white hope" and states, "I am going into this fight for the sole purpose of proving that a white man is better than a Negro." The fight took place on July 4, 1910 in front of 22,000 people, at a ring built just for the occasion in downtown Reno, Nevada and white pride (plus the ability of white society to continue to exert control over the newly-freed Negro population) was on the line.

In real life, when Johnson proved to be stronger, smarter, and more nimble than Jeffries (knocking him down twice for the first time in his career) the fight is stopped in the 15th round to prevent a knockout. When the news of Johnson's victory spreads across the country jubilant blacks began celebrating -- much to the consternation of whites, who accused them of illegal rioting.

The so-called "riots" were simply blacks reveling in the first-ever victory for the race, and in cities like Chicago the police did not disturb the celebrations. But in other cities, the police and angry white citizens moved aggressively to put an end to them. Police interrupted several attempted lynchings, and in all, "riots" were reported in more than 25 states and 50 cities. About 23 blacks and two whites died and hundreds more were injured during the melees.

When white America concluded its best fighter couldn't beat Johnson/Jefferson in the ring, laws were created and then used to hound him out of the country. In real life the Mann Act was put on the books specifically for Jack Johnson and he was the first American prosecuted under the so-called "white slavery" laws.

Interestingly, a newly-released book by Ohio State Law Professor Michelle Alexander, entitled "The New Jim Crow," details how, even today, such laws are still created and used to impact unfairly on blacks. This, then, is the crux of the play: Profiling of blacks by the criminal justice system ... and, no matter how specious, such laws are made to seem legal and fair. It's really about how easily wrong is magically made into right ... and how difficult to get such laws off the books when they impact primarily -- almost exclusively -- on minorities.

And, as playwright Sackler aptly points out, the media plays a critical role in shaping opinions. Case in point: Johnson employed the same skill techniques that "Gentleman Jim" Corbett developed to beat the great John L. Sullivan over a decade earlier. Corbett had turned boxing from a barroom brawl that favored brawn, into a more scientific sport of conditioning, training, and speed that was based on hitting your opponent while not getting hit in return. The press of the day praised Corbett as a genius and "the cleverest man in boxing." However, when Johnson came along and was able to win utilizing and improving upon the techniques he'd learned by watching Corbett, he was dubbed "lazy" ... "devious" ... and "cowardly."

But this current play, unlike real life for many young black men of today, does have its lighter, more humorous moments. Sir Laurence Olivier once stated that until a performer is ready to go on stage and willingly risks making a complete fool of them self ... they are not yet a first-rate thespian. By that measure, Peter Lawson Jones has become first-rate due to his performance as Tick, the champ's trainer. For most of the evening the role is straightforward and uncomplicated, but then, it takes a sharp, madcap turn.

After being hounded out of the country for flaunting the racial mores of the time, Jefferson and his entourage find themselves on the verge of penury in Europe when no boxer is willing to fight him. A vaudeville promoter offers the trio a chance to make some eating money by appearing as buffoons in the stereotypical play, "Uncle Tom's Cabin." Jones, already playing Tick, now has to play a role within a role ...that of "Topsy" the ragamuffin little slave girl who is so ignorant she doesn't even know how she came into being.

While the champ (who is acutely embarrassed because his fortunes have fallen so low) merely glowers at the jeering audience while playing Uncle Tom, his girlfriend, the still ever-optimistic Ms. Bachman, really puts on a brave face and tries her best as Eva; but Tick, probably thinking "hey, we gotta get some money somehow so that we can continue eating" dives into his role as Topsy with gusto.

Wearing a full wig of black braids and a skirt, Jones, as Tick playing Topsy, sings and dances his heart out for the booing and derisive European crowd, and in the process proves to Cleveland crowds that he has indeed developed into a first-rate actor... and a very brave one to boot. In those brief few minutes he virtually steals the show. I laughed so hard my bladder damn near betrayed me.

It's interesting that "The Great White Hope" is once again in production, given the racially-charged climate in Washington and around the country as modern-day bigots exhibit the same hatreds as those of one hundred years ago; this time under the patriotic-sounding name of a "Tea Party." The hunt is once again on for someone to redeem the white race in America from the clutches of a black man, to reestablish supposed white hegemony; only this time, instead of finding a boxer, the reactionaries have made Sarah Palin their new "Great White Hope." Trust me -- this great artistic work from the past still has a lot to say about our country's ugly present.


The production runs through Sun 3/14 at Karamu House, and then Thu 4/1 - Sun 4/18 at the Weathervane Playhouse near Akron. http://www.Karamu.org

Yet another dead child

It should be obvious to all and sundry by now that the method we use as a society to determine if a child is being properly cared for is deeply flawed. If it wasn't flawed two children would still be alive, wouldn't they?

The most recent incident of infanticide, following on the heels of another case a mere few months prior should serve as a wakeup call, but of course it won't. Why? Because we simply don't care enough to prevent such deaths -- we don't have the political will to solve the problems of the underclass in this country once and for all (in spite of the fact our failure to do so is slowly leading our country down the road to perdition).

Both of the mothers who lost their tempers and killed their children were evidently savvy enough to game the system and fool social workers who, as part of their jobs of keeping families together, are desperately looking for any signs of improvement in a parents' behavior ... perhaps too desperately. We all are getting tired of hearing from authorities when a child dies that the parent "complied with all of the rules" that were put in place for them. Obviously the "rules" need to be more stringent, but setting rules is not in the province of social service agencies, they are not to blame; that's what we have Federal and State elected officials for ... those same folks who can't seem to find a way to provide heath care for all Americans.

The way it stands now, as long as a child of an underclass parent lives to gain their majority, that's considered by the system to be a success: That the child didn't die on someone's watch. I guess it really doesn't matter if that child drops out of school in the 10th grade and then matriculates into an armed-robber or an axe murderer ... we did a great job of protecting them while they were a child. Emphatically, we did not.

Why is it that conservatives always call for punitive, draconian measures that cannot and will not work to solve social problems, rather than proactive, preventive measures that actually are proven to solve said problems ? To those on the right, if there is a problem with crime, simply build more prisons, if babies of underclass mothers are being killed, find a way to prevent them from being born in the first place, and try to find some clever way to do it and stay within the bounds of Title 18, Section 1091 of the United States Code, which states, in part: "Whoever ... imposes measures intended to prevent births within a [national, ethnic, racial or religious] group shall be punished by fines of $1,000,000 and life imprisonment." The heading is "Genocide."

A far less expensive and proven method of solving the problem is (yes, you faithful readers, you guessed it!) the Harlem Children's Zone. If either of these mothers who killed their children had been under the mentorship of such a program, it's almost a 100 percent certainty their offspring would still be alive today ... and thriving. Now, for all of those conservatives that say we can't afford such programs (in spite of the fact they cost far less than the $25,000 per year to keep someone in prison) I have a solution: Those on the political right, all they have to do is close their eyes and just pretend these babies ... and the ones that will continue to die unless we do something ... are white.

From Cool Cleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier's From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available again in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author by visiting http://www.frombehindthewall.com.