I was really intrigued by this reading. Last semester, I was very privileged to view a play preformed by VCU's Conciliation Project. It was called Uncle Tom Deconstructed. The play addressed similar issues of racism and exposed its more subtle forms as perpetuated and created by themes in Uncle Tom. I really enjoyed the fact that the article presented some of the lesser-acknowledged ways that racism is perpetuated in our society. Defining racism in relation to who benefits from its practice is an excellent approach. Also, being able to differentiate between racism and prejudice is very important with regard to the very different definitions presented in this article.
Here is the blog that tracked VCU's production of this show. It features clips, actor's opinions, and reflections regarding the concepts of the performance.
http://uncletomdeconstructed.tumblr.com/page/2
I still think the question stands: how do we combat the racism that is so engrained into the operations of our society? What are people doing to make others more aware? I'm going to look up some artists and playwrights.
I think that's a great question. Racism has been built in to so many ideas that it's become a normal thing, and I think if people start recognizing that it shouldn't be then we would take a step forward. It's not as easy as it sounds, but we've come a long way from 50 years ago.
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