It is rare that I see a play and am still thinking about it weeks after I’ve seen the show. “The Royale,” currently showing at the Lincoln Center (Mitzi Newhouse) Theater until May 1, is inspired by the real-life experiences of Jack Johnson, the first African-American heavyweight world champion. Besides the incredible soul-stirring performances of the five actors in the production, this play is about so much more than a heavyweight championship fight at the turn of the 20th century.
“The Royale” is, in many ways, a story that makes us reflect on our current racial moment. As we see the fictitious character Jay “The Sport” Jackson (Khris Davis) prepare to fight the white heavy weight champion, his sister, Nina (the mesmerizing Montego Glover), begs him not to fight. She fears what will happen “to the rest of us”—those not strong enough to fight every man in our path, those not fast enough to run from lynch mobs, those not strong enough to withstand the beatings, stabbings and worse from racist whites who will never allow or accept that a Black man has beaten a white man at his sport and ultimately at so much more.
As I watch the news and read about stories of Donald Trump supporters stirring themselves (and being stirred) into a frenzy at “rallies” while punching, kicking and spitting on protestors, I can’t help but see the concerns of Nina become a reality. What we are witnessing in 2016 is decades of deep-seated frustration, anger, jealousy, confusion, embarrassment and failure from segments of the white population in America. The election of President Barack Obama as the modern-day world champion has exposed the raw nerve that is American race relations.
The past few months, observing Trump supporters has exposed the reality of the racial divide that has always existed in this country since its inception. As a scholar of American politics, I have great respect for this nation and the possibilities it holds. However, I am quite steadfast in my belief and firm understanding that this great nation’s founding principles are based on inequality and white supremacy. There have been remarkable strides—racial, gender and economic—in the past few centuries and definitely in the past few decades. But post-racial this country is not, and the recent months have made it quite clear that the idea of a post-racial America may be as far in the distance as colonizing the planets.
I don’t want to sound pessimistic. I have seen the coalitions being built and strengthened between Blacks, Latinos, Muslims and whites. There are many people in this nation who believe in the greater good, fighting inequities and sharing resources. There have been so many people on the right side of history who have helped move this country forward. We must continue to seek them out and build substantive coalitions. We will win this fight. We can win this fight. “The rest of us” have already begun to join forces …
Christina Greer, Ph.D., is an associate professor at Fordham University and the author of “Black Ethnics: Race, Immigration and the Pursuit of the American Dream.” You can find her on Twitter @Dr_CMGreer.
