A memoir in Vanishing Whiteness
Like Taproot’s The Whipping Man, Riding in Cars with Black People and Other Newly Dangerous Acts, is a must see for all white folks. Riding in Cars deals with the contrast between white privilege vs. African American discrimination on a concrete nitty-gritty everyday level, as told through the eyes of an African American young man, who had the fortune and misfortune of having been adopted and raised by a white family in a white suburb of Tacoma.
Setting aside the serious message, it is also one of the funniest solo acts I have ever seen. In a series of “chapters”, Chad Goller-Sojourner recounts various experiences he had after he left the safety of his white world. Beginning with how the police deal with young black males on I-5 between Tacoma and Bellingham to how New Yorkers dealt with him as a gay, hand-bag carrying, full-length mink-coat-wearing-black man. It is also a journey from “white” identity to re-identifying himself as a hybrid who embraces both his African American racial heritage alongside his white cultural heritage.
Although Chad could use some diction and articulation work, his performance was outstanding; an hour and a half of exquisite comic timing, superb writing all delivered by a born comic. Like all the best comedy, the tragedy is all there, how ill-equipped he is to deal with the police once he is not protected by his white family, the daily danger African Americans are in, from the over-reactive police, and his white perceptions of going to a Black Church for the first time. He takes it all, puts a hilarious comic spin on it and not only enlightens us but also keeps us rolling in the aisles with laughter.
In many ways, this show reminded me of Barack Obama’s Coming of Age auto-biography,Dreams of my Father, but with all due respect to one of the greatest presidents this country has ever had, Riding in Cars is a whole lot funnier.
RIDING IN CARS WITH BLACK PEOPLE AND OTHER DANGEROUS ACTS:-A memoir in vanishing whiteness. A solo performance written and performed by Chad Goller-Sojourner, directed by Tyrone Brown. Brownbox Theatre and King County 4 Culture. Rainier Valley Cultural Center 3515 S. Alaska St.-Seattle. (Corner of Alaska and Rainier Ave S-free off-street parking) April 11-21. Tickets www.brownpapertickets.com/event/351610