Read on Twitter
okay everyone, i did two examples of the side by side this morning. let's look at them in depth :) https://twitter.com/oureric/status/1274340715347218433
number one: the Hamilton paragraph
so the important thing, to begin, is that my entire essay is about the fact that *bodies* and *people* are two different concepts. this is a really, really tough sell, bc if not their body, what is a person? and i would argue that a person is their body AND something intangible
when i separate these two concepts to look at storytelling, that's where the anti-Black trends emerge
what you can see, in this comparison, is where i refer directly to bodies (in blue) and where the edit refers to people (in yellow). the faded ylw/blu highlights are the sections where the word choice is both are identical, though they have different implications
starting right off the top, i'm DEEPLY disturbed because i do not believe that the BLACKNESS OF HAMILTON IS INCIDENTAL. the creators, in a very unique move, were VERY particular about the use of Blackness in the show, which is part of what makes Hamilton so innovative--
what i think is a CHALLENGE in Hamilton is that it uses this concept of separating bodies from people WITHOUT ever acknowledging or engaging with that choice in the literal text/execution of the show. that's what this paragraph is about
you can see, as the paragraph unfolds, how i'm very specific about where i say "bodies," "people," or just "Blackness," and how these linguistic choices serve my thesis. the last sentence is the acknowledgement of the difficulty w this construct, hence the passing of the mic
i admire Hamilton SO, SO MUCH, for SO, SO MANY REASONS. this essay is (as stated) not about how good or bad a show is. i could write a fckn book on the expert craft of Hamilton. it's just about implications of BODIES.
number two: the Once On This Island paragraph
okay, so by this point in the essay, i believe that i have more effectively separated bodies from people, so i give myself a little credit with my pale blue highlights of Blackness being specific to body (blue) rather than person (yellow)
the red lettered things are things that i think are understandable clean-up choices, but sort of take away from my voice and rhythm. and humor, at the end there
look carefully at the way i specifically avoid referring to people throughout the paragraph, and see how the edits slip and slide between the concepts as though they're interchangeable
i think it speaks for itself, mostly. what i would love, though, is to take a moment to talk about "white" versus "White"
one of the big challenges we have in this moment talking about race is tied directly to the notion that the "neutral" audience for a play or musical (or essay) is, in fact, a white person. this is part of the challenge with racism in storytelling in general
given that neutrality, writing is often tailored toward "equality" of language. so, if i do something for the word Black, i should also do the same thing for the word "white"
that way, i'm not showing racial "preference" for a whole group of people
the problem is "white" and "Black" are neither equal, nor opposite. "whiteness" cannot be pointed to in the way that "Blackness" can, and this is a huge part of the problem we encounter when discussing matters of race and representation.
like i say in my essay, most stories about race rely on a "black/white binary." while i DON'T go further into this concept in the essay (it was cut for time) the capitalization is a subtle choice that reflects my desire to not, linguistically, directly compare "white" and "Black"
in storytelling, there really isn't any such thing as a "White person," which we implicitly understand, bc what MOST people really mean when they say "White person" is an "everyman." all of us.
"Black" is a qualifier to the everyman. (as is female/gay/trans/disabled, anything that's not a cis white dude)
so in most storytelling, there is not a White man and a Black man. there is a man, and there is a Black man.
this is all a long way of describing just ONE of the reasons that capitalizing Black and not white is important. white and Black are not equal, and linguistically, they should remain distinct, so as to not let a reader believe that "whiteness" is analogous to "Blackness."
anyway THANKS FOR COMING TO MY TEDTALK EVERYONE. hope you enjoyed a little insight into my writer brain. STAY QUEER, KIDS.
(and read my essay if you haven't 
) https://medium.com/@heathcliffsaunders/what-i-think-about-when-i-hear-that-broadway-is-racist-afa1b012a8b
) https://medium.com/@heathcliffsaunders/what-i-think-about-when-i-hear-that-broadway-is-racist-afa1b012a8b
