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Mr. Frazier, we disagree Dear Mr. Frazier, I read your “Straight Outta Mansfield” column in the CoolCleveland newsletter about every week, and usually your social criticisms and commentaries are spot on.

But this week, in the "Let’s Make a Deal" portion of your feature, I was very upset at some of the assertions you made.

First of all, you seem to imply that because a white critic reviewed a play about black issues, any criticism on his part is clearly a lack of racial understanding, not an actual comment about a work of theatre. By extension, I, as a white audience member, should not even bother going to this play as I am bound to think it is outdated and not understand its underlying racial themes. Clearly, white people, as you seem to be suggesting in your column, have no idea race issues still exist. I for one have not a shred understanding about modern society and the racial problems we have yet to overcome. Living in Cleveland, one rarely sees racial disparities. Did you think that, perhaps, this production may actually be outdated? You seem to think that because the play itself deals with themes we still struggle with, the production automatically highlights those themes and makes them relevant to modern audiences and conditions. What if the play was simply poorly done? Could the reviewer have valid opinions about how well the performance connected with audience members and brought racial disparity to light? No, of course not, he's white. He just doesn't understand.

The second point of your article that I take issue with is this business about classical music. Can we please stop with the elitism rhetoric when talking about classical music! It's music! Yes, much of it was written by dead, white, Europeans, but that does not mean it isn't relevant today. Look at the school systems in Asia and especially El Sistema in South America. Clearly, there are audiences for classical music in today's society besides white males. Art is art. Beautiful music is beautiful music. Blacks, whites, etc. are all human beings and can all appreciate great art. Much of the reason classical music gets branded as an elite, white pursuit is because there is a lack of music education in poor, mostly minority neighborhoods, so many blacks don't get exposure to classical music at a young age. (Trying to pick it up later in life is like jumping into 24 in the middle of a season) Ticket prices, too, are often very expensive for those with low income, further alienating non-white audiences. However, rhetoric like yours adds to the problem. The argument you make in your article can be summed up as: whites, stick to attending and writing reviews of The Cleveland Orchestra, and blacks, stick to attending and writing reviews of plays with racial themes. I take serious issue with that statement, and I hope that isn't the point your were tying to get across. Shouldn't we encourage each other to break out of what we're used to and try to understand a different viewpoint or culture? I think so.

That being said, I enjoyed some of the rest of this week's piece, and I look forward to reading all of your opinion pieces.

Best wishes, Alex Liedtke

Send your letters to: LettersATCoolCleveland.com