Soooooo......Let me get this straight...

Dear Mr. Playwright, Sir,

So let me get this straight….

Did you really just make this observation that white men can’t write stories about black women because they don’t know nothing bout their lives, but then you did it?

Let get this straight,

Did you really just act like you wrote this simply to give an inside look into the life of Ethel Waters?

Did you really just insinuate that the point of the play was to show Ethel’s epiphany in the importance of a Christian mindset, but then only really mentioned her lack of spirituality at the very beginning of Act I?

Did you really just play into this idea of a negro woman making a name for herself after many tribulations, but then give the credit to someone else?

What I wanna know is,

How you gonna make this play, focusing on Ethel as an independent, and then turn around and make it for white folk?

As I sat amongst this almost all-white old crowd, I silently took note of every line they chose to laugh at and how uncomfortable they got every time the actress said the word nigga. I thought to myself “Why are they here seeing this play about Ethel Waters if they can’t handle the dialect?” Probably because you gave them something to look forward to, making the silent cringes throughout the play worth it.

Honestly, white people’s favorite thing is to feel like they’ve helped out the poor little defenseless black people. As if they are God’s gift to Earth. So, as a white man, don’t you sit there and try to tell me you didn’t make this play for white folk.

You told them what they wanna hear. They gave a standing ovation. And they left. Feeling ever-so-satisfied. As if they personally, helped Ethel.

And let me just get one last thing straight…….

Were you really celebrating the life of Ethel Waters or merely showing an example of the blessing white men are to black women?

Sanura