November 12, 2001

Sir/Madame:

My name is John Burl Smith; I am author of About Jem. As part of the educational process being spearheaded by the Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America Exhibition of author James Allen's photographic collection, I have developed a special production called The Portal to help communicate the exhibit's important themes of healing and reconciliation. A brief synopsis of the production accompanies this letter of introduction.

Schools are primary agents of socialization. Normatively, schools should help young people learn to resolve inner conflicts, express emotions and channel their energies positively. Behaviors displayed by young people reflect internalized messages received from socialization agents, such as churches, schools, sports' figures, politicians and the values families practice at home. The Portal combines two plays that illustrate the socialization process and its daily impact on real people as they interact with others in the struggle for survival.

I would like to bring this unique experience to your campus as a means of helping your students deal with many of the problems presently creating turmoil on most college campuses. I believe recent events involving Panhellenic societies at Auburn, Mississippi, Georgia, Emory and Oglethorpe Universities represent efforts to act out the stereotypes American society traditionally rewards. Understanding the critical role denial plays in the drama being acted out in Panhellenic societies across America means confronting the past. Hypocrisy is an even more important consideration, as adults display one behavior in public while rewarding the opposite in private. In order to let the society off the hook, educational institutions are treating these young people as deviants, rather than the norm. These students have become postal children for racism; they are taking the blame for what the Without Sanctuary exhibit exposes.

I wrote Dr. Michael V. W. Gordon, Executive Director International Panhellenic Council asking him to address the racist behavior of fraternities and sororities before the current rash of incidents surfaced. To read the letter, click on Panhellenic. I hoped to use James Allen's book Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America to broach this subject with students. The Portal, like Without Sanctuary, affords a threshold event that opens into an array of possibilities once the individual recognizes the subconscious socializing forces that motivate their behaviors. The Portal can be a vicarious experience, which allows students to visualize their inner turmoil and recognize themselves in characters on stage. Experiencing real emotional connections with performers can help students see their reflection as more than just faces in a crowd but as active participants. The Portal teaches that one makes choices.

I became involved with this project as a result of researching the 1946 lynching of George and May Murray Dorsey and Robert Malcolm and his pregnant wife, Dorothy, at Moore's Ford in Walton County, Georgia. Totally unaware that such gruesome murders occurred near my home, I became interested in educating young people about America's ugly past. This phase targets students, undergraduates and graduates, because they will teach future generations and should at least be aware of the social forces that produced the America we live in today. Without a clear reflection today of what this nation really looked like during a period when otherwise well-meaning, god-fearing white people, pillars of the community achieved social status by participating in bloodlust rituals of mayhem and murder, future generations will be even less able to recognize the ugly face of racism that terrorized African Americans for nearly one hundred years. Only those still hiding behind the hood and actively enforcing institutionalized racism do not recognize the present hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is the seed from which our present discontent grows.

The Without Sanctuary exhibit is scheduled to run from May 1 through December 1, 2002 in Atlanta, Georgia. Presently, a marketing plan is being developed to turn the eyes of the world on this dark subject. Bringing this performance to your campus will provide more information about the Without Sanctuary exhibit. Getting only vague references and glossy images that justify racist attitudes from historians, students need to experience the Allen collection personally in order to comprehend truly their need to examine closely what they have been taught in American history. Wiped clean of the gruesome and heinous reflections of how America enforced white supremacy, students across America can continue believing as "frat brothers and sisters" at Auburn University, who only see themselves reflecting white American family values.

For those of us involved in this educational effort, this is not a pleasant undertaking, however it is a necessity. Condemning young people for doing in public what the society rewards in private clubs will produce generations of cynics, fearful of their natural inclinations and distrustful of social engagement. Universities are the chief socializing agents in America and as such, they owe their students clearer reflections of the society they are expected to lead. Talking democracy in public, while practicing white supremacy in private clubs make productions like The Portal and books like Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America vital exercises in the war of words to educate Americans about their real history.

I hope you see this proposal as a useful exercise and experience that will bring your students into the twenty-first century and begin a process of true dialogue and reconciliation. Please allow me to thank you in advance for your serious consideration and timely response. I look forward to hearing from you soon on ways your campus wishes to use The Portal. You can reach me via email at icim@bellsouth.net or telephone me at 404-244-6023.

Sincerely, John Burl Smith

Access to the Arts gives an economically powerful elite control of history. For those below middle class, the poor, black and less educated, the lack of retrospective analysis or cultural interpretation that gives meaning to their lives, theater can present lynching from a variety of perspectives. Therefore, live stage performances that address issues, express aspirations and portray realistic images of the black experience can find public expression and acceptance. The Atlanta Vibe Repertory Company (AVRC), a consortium of independent artists and performers, who collaborate to write, develop and produce theatrical productions that not only enlighten but enrich community life, has produced a performance that can enhance Lifting the Veil of Silence and communicate the continuity of the Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America exhibit with our ageless struggle.

The Production

The Portal brings together two one act plays, About Jem and The Block, into one production. Although similar lynching themes, these plays use different motifs to tell similar stories. Combining the two achieves versatility and originality, as well as economy. The Portal is envisioned as the doorway to different worlds that produce the same results. Representing sensitivity thresholds, crossing The Portal consciously moves one beyond superficiality. Existentially, The Portal exposes life's ironies and pains that touch us all with penetrating clarity. These plays speak about the connectivity or the lack there of in our lives. The Portal brings up close "the ugliness we ignore until till it busts us in the face." Reality shatters all pretense of human concern, as lynchings show otherwise good, well-meaning, upstanding, God-fearing whites (men, women and children) enjoyed the smell of charred flesh. Stepping through The Portal, we enter the inner sanctum!

The Plays

About Jem is based on T.H.I.N.C. (Teaching Humanity In New Consciousness): The Chrysalis of Evolution, a book of poems and short stories by Yohannes Sharriff Smith, which has been adapted to the stage by John Burl Smith. About Jem follows a conventional structure that uses dialogue to convey the story line about what happens when a young black man enters a predominately white southern university. This play reflects the multi-layered education college life provides, while simultaneously exposing familial attitudes that color one's everyday experiences. About Jem shows how an individual's humanity is ravished when he or she is viewed through stereotypical lenses. Such value judgements close the doorway to empathy. In its largest sense, About Jem symbolizes the dehumanizing impact lynching as on everyone's spirit any time anyone becomes Jem.

Another original production, The Block is sketch theater at its best. Written by Aqiyl Thomas and Yohannes Sharriff Smith, it explores the impact of immovable objects and irresistible forces that collide with the everyday foibles of human survival. Their work is more a spoken word opera or concert than a play in the traditional sense. Poems rather than dialogue bridge subtle messages with authentic emotions. Magnifying the impact of a powerful story line with explosive imagery, The Block captures the familiar desperation of black life. It presents the every day bought and sold reality of slave descendants. As a continuum accentuating the systematic denial of individual humanity, lynching becomes a process, as well as an event. Reaching beyond simply showcasing poetic talent, The Block fuses other artistic expression, like music, dance and improv to illuminate the struggle of the human spirit for relevance. Sizing up the world by what we encounter in our own little corner of The Block, characters are personifications, replicas fighting for personal space where one can feel safe and loved. A psycho-experiential trip, this performance fills in images the mind normally "blocks" out to disguise denial.

The key to any outreach effort is having the ability to take interesting and informative art to under-served areas and keep cost at a level the targeted audience can afford. Community theater serves a need major theatrical companies do not satisfy for a number of reasons. First, their productions are designed to appeal to artistically savvy audiences. Next, they strive to represent mainstream viewpoints. Finally, they cast the most professional talent available. These companies cannot afford to experiment with novice playwrights and performers. The goal of AVRC is all of the above. Moreover, the AVRC is audience oriented and tries to use its performances as a platform for community issues. It draws on the cultural uniqueness, strength and diversity afforded by their history. AVRC envisions using its performances to increase the audiences for the Without Sanctuary Exhibit by taking art into schools, community centers, parks, churches, hospitals, recovery centers, prisons, jails, colleges and universities. Using theater as an outreach program, the message of healing reaches individuals in places where celebrating life and the human spirit is often overshadowed by the daily struggle to survive.

The tangible benefits derived from this approach are clear. It is affordable, accessible, specific, direct, efficient and about healing. It provides the community with access and exposure to the message of healing the Without Sanctuary Exhibit is all about. Through the strategy described in this overview, it is clear spoken word can be an entertainment venue that increases the focus and adds variety to the process of healing. This proposal introduces the value and potential of spoken word as an educational vehicle for the community. The goal of any outreach strategy is to reach targeted communities with specific messages. As vehicles go, spoken word is more effective than most, because its audience is comprised of willing listeners. This proposal is designed to meet the needs of those desiring to reach audiences on all levels, even those who may not be able to read such material.

This proposal can be presented as a total package or broken into vignettes for small venues. It also contains a conference component that can extend over several days. The goal is to provide a vehicle or platform on which an institution or organization can build a program that can be expanded or downsized to fit individual needs.

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