My friends and I are going to play in the street.
I mean, have a play near the street about Arizona.
Theater probably won’t save Arizona, but we want to use the spectacle of drama as a response to its recent anti-immigrant legislation.
July 29th is the day that the controversial SB 1070 law is scheduled to go into effect. If a police officer has ANY lawful contact with a person, and that officer has “reasonable suspicion” that person is not a citizen, then the officer must demand proof of citizenship.
So what’s “reasonable suspicion”? Is it the color of your skin?
There is now a training video for police to learn what “reasonable suspicion” is. But many people, including the Tucson Police Chief Roberto Villaseñor, believe that reasonable suspicion isn’t clearly defined.The fear: this new law will lead to racial profiling and harassment of citizens.
Many groups around the country are planning protests on Thursday, July 29th to show their concern about what’s happening in Arizona and their fear that such laws will continue to spread.
So, we’ve decided to put on a short play about this issue and perform it in various public locations in our city. Think Street theater. We plan to perform on street corners, downtown, and in front of politicans’ offices.
Here’s the basic plot: two people named “A” & “Z” stop people walking by and ask them for their papers. Of course, they need to have a reason for stopping them, so they will accuse random people of jaywalking or loitering. Then three people named “Bill,” “of,” “rights” walk by and remind A & Z of the 4th amendment that protects people from “unreasonable searches and seizures.” A & Z then arrest Bill, of, Rights as Lady Liberty enters and tries to save the day. At the end of our short scene, we pass out fliers encouraging people to come to a rally on July 29th.
We’re rehearsing now, but just talking about it and sharing it with other people has sparked discussion in my community. My main hope: it will increase awareness about this new law, because extremist groups are trying to pass similar legislation in other states.
In my state, NCListen, which is affiliated with the anti-immigrant group FAIR, wants North Carolina to pass an Arizona-like law. They also want to continue a ban on undocumented students from college.
A play can’t solve that, and even as three heroic young people, our NC Dreamteam, went on a hunger strike to convince our Senator Hagan to help undocumented students, we need everyone in the arts involved in this issue-actors, musicians, artists, and more.
Yesterday, Pres. Obama said it was “a moral imperative” to fix our broken immigration system. “I believe we can appeal not to people’s fears but to their hopes, to their highest ideals, because that’s who we are as Americans.”
So, it’s going to be a long, hot summer as we try to avoid fear and pursue hope. If you’re interested in learning more about this play project, please contact me: [email protected].
As Hamlet put it, “The play’s the thing.”