Houston and Race

I agree with playwright Houston that a person’s admixture should be officially recognized. While her motives are unclear, her black ancestry is as obvious as her red and yellow blends.

But her silences on anti-black sentiments among Asians and Asian-Americans is deafening. She seems oblivious to the fact that the rising sun of her mother’s native land ceased to radiate warmth for blacks decades ago.

I have felt the air of difference in the midst of other people of color from Tijuana to Vancouver, from Chicago to Honolulu. But the most frequent chills were felt in this city’s Little Tokyo.

Perhaps if Houston takes this unpleasant truism into account--as well as the myth of nonwhite solidarity--and infuse it into the consciousness of her moving pen, she would help usher in a cultural new world order, and a place for her in history would be assured.

SHELBY SANKORE

Phillips Ranch