Pop Culture References
OJ Simpson
In 1994 OJ was charged for the deaths of his ex-wife and her male friend outside of her house. In trial, he was acquitted of all charges and found not guilty by the help of his attorneys. This event caused the most racial separation in the country since the 60's. Most African Americans that Justice had been served by the "not guilty" verdict than most whites.
Rodney King
Rodney King was pulled over on the highway with high levels of alcohol and marijuana in his system. After a high speed chase, 8 officers swarmed his car and after resisting for minutes King finally got out of his car when he was tazed twice. He reached for his back pocket unarmed and the police used the method "swarming", where they all used physical extreme force to tackle him to the ground. He received 30 blows to the body with batons and 6 kicks to the upper body area. After being tied and dragged to the ambulance, he suffered numerous broken bones, black eyes and missing teeth. The event was caught on tape and when shown to the world, sparked the LA Riots of 1992 when the nation discovered that the 8 officers were all found not guilty to the beating of Rodney King in court.
Malcolm X
Malcolm Little grew up heavily involved in a life of crime. He participated in drug dealing, armed robbery and when caught received a sentence of 10 years at twenty years old for burglary. In prison he developed an interest in Islam and became "saved". When released during the Civil Rights Movement Malcolm changed his last name from Little to X and declared non-violence was the philosophy of a fool until his pilgrimage to Mecca when he realized everyone deserved love and was a children on Allah. He encouraged blacks and whites to end racism.
Dr. King
Encouraged non-violent thoughts to end segregation; as a pastor he believed in loving your neighbors and enemies as you love yourself. His assassination led to race riots throughout the country. There is a conspiracy that his murderer, James Earl Ray may have been hired by a jealous husband who was angered that his wife allegedly slept with and bore a child of King's.
It's very important for Henry to go through this list at the very beginning of the play because it already gets the audience thinking. Some of the audience was alive when these events happened or were taught about these events in school. What were our reactions when we first heard of these events? Would the audience think that OJ was guilty or innocent? Was Dr. King truly a saint even though he had marital problems? Would the audience be racially divided already in the first two minutes?
Phrases Scene I
"Simon Legree and Topsy"
Characters from Uncle Tom's Cabin (changed the American view of Slavery).Simon Legree is Tom's last master; villain of the story, pure evil and inhumanely cruel. Devoted himself to evil without any concrete reasons. Cares about money and dominating people. Topsy, the complete opposite is a clever little girl raised without morals.
"The white man ripped off my dress"- Topsy= back girl- innocent and victim; Simon= white guy-pure evil
"On Dead Ground, Fight"
Sun Tzu, a Chinese military general wrote The Art of Military Strategy. The phrase implies confronting the enemy or other side with the advantage, but do not explain the danger.
"Nigger Bitch"
a phrase typically describing a white girl having sexual relations with a black man, the situation can be reversed.
"Give them a hook upon which to hang their bad judgement"
Even though they are screwed either way, let's let them think they're making the best choice.
"Regressed to the Savage"
Returning back to the primal state of being (starting from the ground up)
"Exercise in metaphysics/ alley fight"
Alley fights are rare, spontaneous and majority of the time unfair and dirty and metaphysics is the traditional branch of philosophy that explains the fundamental nature of being- it answers 2 questions: What is ultimately there? What is it like?
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