Rage-A letter to Ethel Waters

Dear Ethel Waters,

Since seeing a truly beautiful musical depiction of your life, I am left in a cycle of being satisfied in one moment by the ending, and unsatisfied in another.  At first, the ending seemed perfect. It felt rational to let go of the generalization of the entire white race as hateful, bigoted, and unfair people, and to finally allow yourself to evaluate each person’s character before making a judgment based on skin color.

However, like many of my classmates, the ending also seemed to glorify the white race.  It seemed that Eddie was the typical white savior depicted in movies and other historical representations.  It seemed that you were giving full credit to a white man, rather than to God or to your own resilience.  It felt wrong that you, all of the sudden, looked at African-Americans more negatively, and white people more positively.

But, as the actress who depicted you explained, the ending had a lot more to do with letting go of your rage against the white race, and your rage against the world that was quite literally, making you eat yourself to death.  It became clear to me that this is something that you had to do to allow yourself let happiness into your life, even if this happiness was facilitated by a white man.

This was satisfying to me for a while, but now I am left with conflicting messages on whether or not rage is helpful or destructive.  Highly influential people like Fannie Lou Hamer and Bernie Sanders seem to romanticize rage, seeing it as an instrument of resistance.  Fannie Lou Hamer used her rage to fight against brutal oppression in a powerful way, and one of Bernie Sander’s famous quotes, “Never ever lose your sense of outrage” establishes a similar sentiment.  But in your case, rage was seen in a negative light; it was impossible for you to gain back your health with the sense of outage eating you alive.  On a similar note, Fannie Lou Hamer also became very sick with Heart Disease and Cancer, probably having to with the stress that accompanies this powerful force of rage.  

Rage, therefore, must be helpful to the group, but destructive to the individual.  It is unsettling to me to come to the conclusion that in yet another case, oppressed people must choose between their own health, happiness and safety, and fighting for their rights.  

-Veronica