The People's Cooperative Guerrilla Theater

When I was reading Angry Black White Boy, I had great difficulty in finding a character I could fully support. As we've discussed in class, Macon Detornay is an infuriating, self-contradicting yet self-aware mess, and I could never find it in myself to see him as any sort of hero. I found most of the other characters unlikeable as well, but there was one group that redeemed the entire book for me. The People's Cooperative Guerrilla Theatre, the "aggressive, community-based literacy program...that recruits randomly and [doesn't] take no for an answer" (86), was my favorite part of Angry Black White Boy, and I would like to spend this blog post discussing why I think they are integral to the message of the book.

Angry Black White Boy presents a wide variety of views towards race relations, satirizing almost all of them. Macon is constantly shown as hypocritical in his beliefs, making assumptions about the black people he meets even as he claims to be the "downest whiteboy who ever lived." Professor Alam's reverence of rap as an unassailable art form fares little better, and the run-of-the-mill white liberals are described as stupid, fake, and generally unable to comprehend the lives of those different from them. The People's Cooperative Guerrilla Theatre, however, defy all of these categories. They are a troupe of black thespians who lost the support of their community for their efforts to put on non-African-American plays like The Importance of Being Earnest. The PCGT is all about defying labels and refusing to be boxed into stereotypes like everyone else. Every other character in Angry Black White Boy is obsessed with the idea of a fundamental divide between black and white people. Macon feels that he needs to "be black" in order to fight against racism, but the PCGT understands that different races don't have to be diametrically opposed. They don't have to be white to put on A Midsummer Night's Dream. As one actor says, "Black man got a right to wear pink when he damn well pleases...I ain't just a raisin in the sun. I'm a tomato in the rain forest." (86)

Although the People's Cooperative Guerrilla Theatre is seen as a sort of joke by the Race Traitor Project, I believe that their actions have much more of an impact on race relations than anything like the Day of Apology does. Throughout the book, we see Macon attempting to do something revolutionary but ultimately reinforcing the same old stereotypes of black people and just making everything worse. When he starts robbing white people, his victims assume that he is black, and black taxi drivers suffer as a result. The Day of Apology turns into "just another race riot," and Macon's interviews alienate audiences as often as not. The PCGT, however, smashes these same stereotypes into smithereens. They confront strangers in shady parks at night, but only to perform a piece of classic drama with them. They don't reject their own heritage or try to "be white" as Macon tries to "be black," but still appreciate the value of other cultures. Even during the riot, when an abusive police officer is about to be torn apart by the angry crowd, the actors merely force him to play a humiliating role in their play. In every instance, the PCGT rejects simple classification in interesting and publicly visible ways, which does more to change an average person's mind about racism than any violence could. If you were stopped by a black man in a stocking cap one night, what would you assume? If he then asked you to play Oberon in their group's production of A Midsummer Nigh's Dream, how would your assumptions change? Afterwards, such an experience could permanently change your expectations walking through that park. The PCGT changes hearts in a way that Macon never can, and that is why they are my favorite aspect of the entire novel.

P.S. I did a little research, and guerrilla theatre is actually a real thing. It originated in the 1960s and usually involves flashmob-like performances with a social justice theme. For example, a group of actors might reenact atrocities of a war in order to protest it. This is pretty much what the PCGT is doing: protesting racist assumptions by rejecting them in the most flagrant way they can.