Local "Ragtime" controversy

People have been up in arms around here because of changes made to a local high school production of the musical "Ragtime." References to masturbation and swearing in God's name were removed from the script by the school. Local black leaders have been beside themselves because "the N-word" is used several times in the script and it was not removed. They have been calling the editing of the script a double standard and insisting that the offending word be removed from the production as well.

I'm ready to give a huge round of applause to Perry Township School Superintendent H. Douglas Williams who has taken a stand to put ALL the potentially offensive language back into the script and let the students perform it as written!

"No one complained about the words," said Williams adding that the script was tweaked after a producer pointed out that the religious reference could be removed without altering its integrity. He said the racial slur was kept because removing it would diminish one of the main anti-racist messages of the play.

"It's a real part of our history. Do you avoid it? Do you bleep it out? We have to learn to address it," Williams said. "I think almost anybody criticizing it has not seen it."

My question for the black leaders who objected to the "N-word" being left in the script:

How are we supposed to teach our children about the ugliness of the past if we pretend it didn't happen? How do we open dialogues about racism if we censor the speech we use to talk about what happened in history? If we continue on this path of censorship, will the next school play be a production of "The Diary of Anne Franke" or Joshua Sobol's "Ghetto" where the costumers are instructed to NOT sew yellow stars on the costumes?

To the cast and crew of "Ragtime" - Do not let the uproar over your work and the inevitable protesters outside the theatre shake your convicition or break your concentration. Controversy brings about dialogue and learning. Break a leg Thursday night!