Racism in the 21st Century: Debbie Tucker Green’s Eye for Ear

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doi:10.33422/ejbs.v3i3.483

Abstract

Does equality exist in the 21st century, or, are minorities still forced to fight for equality? In nineteenth century, Britain, racism was blatant in all spheres of cultural, social, and economic life to the point that it crossed over into literature and theatre. In 1978, UNESCO adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Forty years have since passed, but has it made any difference? Contemporary British playwright Debbie Tucker Green’s Eye for Ear (2018), staged at the Royal Court Theatre, reminds us that racism and inequality is still a key social-political issue. This three-act, avant-garde, colloquial play depicts how both African-Americans as well as Black British people still live with racism today. It also highlights racism’s linguistic and legal past. Tucker Green particularly focuses on the violent aspect of that racism through the lens of different characters: an academic, a black student, a black boy, and black parents. The play concludes with crushed hope, for it deduces that Caucasians both in the United States and in Great Britain still dominate practically every facet of society. This study will examine Green’s Ear for Eye, racial discrimination in the 21st century, and how Tucker Green projects her views upon her work through the theory of race and racism.

Highlights

How far have we come regarding racism since the eighteenth century? Are we still not living in a world watching George Floy or Mark Duggan being killed by the police? blacks have gained some political rights, and we can hear their resistant cries against racism
Green deals with racism from various angles
Since it features different characters and topics in each scene, the audience needs to combine the pieces: (1) the difficulties of a black family explaining how to treat their child, (2) the identification of black people as thieves, gangs, and savages by white people, (3) disturbing conversations between a white teacher and a black student, (4) a young adult who is overwhelmed by injustice and wants to join the riots, and (5) an adult who argues that protest is the best way to make their voice heard

Summary

Introduction

How far have we come regarding racism since the eighteenth century? Are we still not living in a world watching George Floy or Mark Duggan being killed by the police? blacks have gained some political rights, and we can hear their resistant cries against racism. The studies on racism are quite limited, a sense of vividness appears in Black British theatre from the 1980s onwards. According Peacock (2008) and Davis (2006), Black British playwrights are divided into two groups, as they deal with different topics before and after the 1990s. First generation playwrights such as Jacqueline Rudet, Caryl Phillips and Winsome Pinnock, mostly reflect their commitment to their roots and their culture, while Roy Williams, Debbie Tucker Green, Dona Daley and Jackie Kay, belong to the second generation, “have produced new narratives of identity, gender, sexuality and nationality” The aim of this article is to both explore how Debbie Tucker Green reflects racism in the USA and the UK in Eye for Ear, as well as to comprehend her point of view on racism within the framework of Stuart Hall’s views

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