{"id":17088,"date":"2016-10-02T16:21:31","date_gmt":"2016-10-02T20:21:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/college.unc.edu\/?p=17088"},"modified":"2024-07-02T16:29:30","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T16:29:30","slug":"detroit-67-play-sparks-carolina-conversation-on-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/?p=17088","title":{"rendered":"Detroit \u201967 play sparks Carolina Conversation on race"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Terry
Terry Rhodes (far left) introduces the panel that led a Carolina Conversation on the set of PlayMakers\u2019 Detroit \u201967 following a performance of the play. Seated, from left to right, are moderator Jacqueline Lawton and panelists Philip Meyer, Perry Hall, Ariana Rivens and Brandon Yelverton. Photo by Laura Pates<\/span>.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

More than 150 people came together Oct. 1 following an afternoon performance of Detroit \u201967<\/i> by PlayMakers Repertory Company for a Carolina Conversation on racial tension and social unrest.<\/p>\n

The idea for the discussion, \u201cDetroit \u201967 <\/i>to Charlotte \u201916,\u201d grew out of the eerie parallels between the play and the recent shootings of black men in Charlotte, Tulsa and elsewhere.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI knew we needed to encourage as many people here at UNC not only to see the production, but to use it as a springboard for going deeper into conversation,\u201d said Vivienne Benesch, producing artistic director of PlayMakers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Carolina Conversations are events designed to facilitate discussion among students, faculty, staff and members of the community on difficult topics. The Oct. 1 event was sponsored by PlayMakers, the Office of the Chancellor and the College of Arts and Sciences.<\/p>\n

In her introduction, Senior Associate Dean for Fine Arts and Humanities Terry Rhodes noted, \u201cDetroit \u201967 <\/i>and this Carolina Conversation directly touch on two of the themes \u2014 social justice and tolerance and understanding\u201d of the recently launched Carolina\u2019s Human Heart initiative on living the arts and humanities.<\/p>\n

The four panelists for the discussion were Philip Meyer, professor emeritus of journalism for the School of Media and Journalism, who covered the 1967 unrest for the Detroit Free Press<\/i>; Perry Hall, associate professor in the department of African, African American and Diaspora Studies and a Detroit native; Ariana Rivens, a psychology major with minors in dramatic art and social and economic justice; and Brandon Yelverton, a political science and sociology major and EmBrACE chair at Black Student Movement, one of the largest student organizations on campus.<\/p>\n

Both Meyer and Hall discussed what it felt like to be in Detroit in 1967 when violence erupted.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw the looting of a grocery store, and it all seemed so foreign to me, because things were getting better,\u201d said Hall, describing the social and economic climate of the city three years after passage of the Civil Rights Act. \u201cIt took me years to figure out that things were getting better for me, but they weren\u2019t getting better for the people looting the grocery store.\u201d<\/p>\n

One audience member, addressing the panelists, noted that although social media had been an important tool in bringing to light the police shootings, she felt overwhelmed by the onslaught of negative images.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s tearing out my soul,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rivens could relate to her problem, responding that she read self-care articles online and found writing poetry to be therapeutic in countering all the negativity. \u201cI\u2019m working through that problem of wanting to be informed and engaged, but did have to take a step back,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

When a high school student asked what she could do to help contribute to racial equality, Yelverton had several suggestions. \u201cBe an ally. Actively listen. Don\u2019t let fear strangle the desire to help,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you see things that are troubling, maybe in your home space or with your friend groups, make sure to challenge the idea of that person.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Talking about issues of race and discrimination \u201ccan be really messy,\u201d moderator Jacqueline Lawton, assistant professor of dramatic art and dramaturg of the play, told the audience.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t always remember the difference between individual behavior and institutional practices,\u201d she said. \u201cAn individual can take part in discriminatory institutional practices, but can also disrupt them. Your being here today is part of that disruption.\u201d<\/p>\n

By Geneva Collins, College of Arts and Sciences<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More than 150 people came together Oct. 1 following an afternoon performance of Detroit \u201967 by PlayMakers Repertory Company for a Carolina Conversation on racial tension and social unrest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":17089,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,15,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diversity","category-fine-arts-humanities","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17088"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17088\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47899,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17088\/revisions\/47899"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}