The Colored Museum: Discomfort & Reflection

The Colored Museum is intended to make the audience uncomfortable. As readers or viewers, we are not sure how exactly we should respond to such a light-hearted, stereotyped re-telling of the trials, cruelties and expectations put on black Americans. I felt especially uncomfortable when I began reading this play. Not only from the content of the play, but I had brought it with me to read while waiting at the Secretary of State. As I began reading, I realized I was sitting very close to several black Americans, close enough for them to see my book and then I realized that several pages basically had very loaded racial terms in bold face print. At that point, I put the book away to read it later.
When I actually sat down again to finish reading the book, I not only felt uncomfortable from the content of the play, but also because of my experience at the S.O.S., hoping not to offend those around me. I think that the discomfort that comes from reading/watching this play is deliberate. When we are no longer comfortable in a situation, it makes us re-evaluate and reflect on our own thoughts and feelings. It makes us consider what our thoughts and feelings are vs. what they should be.
At the time that we were reading this play, I was also studying and discussing the use of African American Vernacular English in my American Dialects class. Many of the same issues and struggles were presented in both classes. To sum up the main issue: How do you find a way to move forward and at the same time, never forget where you came from.
There are many debates over AAVE, whether it is best to allow students to use it in the classroom, whether to require them to learn"standard" English, or to teach them that both are okay depending on the setting.
Language is not the only place where we can see the struggle between pride in your heritage and moving forward with every possible advantage. Ideally, no one should have to deal with the stereotypes and stigmatization of certain cultures, but we do not live in an ideal world and it is unlikely that we will any time soon. That leaves us without an answer to the struggles that non-mainstream America faces and no answer for the educators who must determine their own ways to approach cultural differences.
I do think our discussion may have been more interesting if we had a bit more diversity within our classroom.
Oh- I also think that the clip we watched in class, really ruined the whole play for me. A lot of times when I read things, I create what the characters look like and act like in my head, so to see that version - well, it was bad.