The White Card Read online

  CHARLOTTE: The students were angry? Alex?

  VIRGINIA: Don’t put words in my mouth. I’m certainly not accusing black people of being angry or unreasonable.

  CHARLOTTE: No?

  VIRGINIA: I’m just saying anger gets us nowhere.

  CHARLES: Darling, shouldn’t we check on dinner?

  VIRGINIA: We went to one of Alex’s protests. We saw the police pushing him around, I wanted to intervene …

  ALEX: I was never in danger.

  VIRGINIA: What do you mean? You could have been hurt. Do you think Goodman’s and Schwerner’s mothers were any less worried than Chaney’s during the Freedom Summer murders? I know it’s not politically correct to say, but to a mother, your life has to matter too.

  ALEX: Mom, when you say my life matters in this context you’re essentially saying all lives matter. And that’s so not the point. Black Lives Matter is about black people actually being human. No one questions the humanity of white people.

  VIRGINIA: I understand the point, and still, your life matters.

  CHARLOTTE: If I were a mother I don’t think that I could have stood there and believed my son wasn’t in danger.

  VIRGINIA: Exactly.

  CHARLOTTE: Not exactly …

  VIRGINIA: Charles is the one who kept saying don’t worry, don’t worry …

  CHARLES: They were on the school grounds. Despite arrests, I knew the administration would have them back in classes by the afternoon, as was the case.

  ALEX: You’ll like this, Charlotte. She photographed the police arresting me and she put it on the back of our Christmas card.

  CHARLOTTE: I don’t understand.

  ALEX: She sent out this image of me being arrested at that BLM protest as our Christmas card. So wrong on so many levels.

  VIRGINIA: All I wanted to do was show our support for you. I really care about what Alex is doing to make things better.

  ALEX: My work isn’t about individual action. It’s about working in solidarity against white supremacy. I realize the ways in which my whiteness protects me and that whiteness is tied to the beliefs of white supremacy.

  VIRGINIA: What are you saying? Do you honestly believe we are white supremacists?

  ALEX: White privilege is a thing. White people believe they’re in charge; they expect shit.

  VIRGINIA: I said watch your language.

  CHARLOTTE: I don’t think white people identify themselves as white Americans. They think their perspective is objective. They don’t realize they’re always invested in the advancement of white people.

  VIRGINIA: How does that differ from white supremacy? You and Alex are going a little too far.

  ALEX: Whenever a black person points out the supremacy of whiteness they are told they’re going too far.

  ERIC: Excuse me, but you’re not black; Virginia was addressing both of you … probably you more than Charlotte.

  CHARLOTTE: All we’re saying is that whiteness is propped up at every turn. It’s its own legacy program. Remember how difficult it was for Moonlight to win an Oscar?

  CHARLES: La La Land.

  ERIC: That was bizarre. I’ve been watching the Oscars all my life and I’ve never seen anything like it. But … you think that was some supremacist conspiracy?

  CHARLOTTE: Maybe not, but why did it take that Price Waterhouse guy so long to correct it? White folks don’t like to lose.

  ERIC: No one likes to lose.

  VIRGINIA: People make mistakes.

  CHARLOTTE: President Obama had to be sworn in a second time after Justice Roberts mixed up the order of the words.

  CHARLES: That hadn’t happened before either.

  ALEX: It’s no wonder black people are angry.

  VIRGINIA: Charlotte, I hope you’re not angry. These are difficult issues. They can’t be solved over dinner. My god, we haven’t fed you? Charlotte, please, come this way. We just went informal tonight, it’s a buffet. Alex, come give me a hand. I got your favorite chicken.

  (Virginia exits to the kitchen followed by Charlotte and Alex, leaving Eric and Charles alone.)

  ERIC: So how do you feel the evening is going?

  CHARLES: I like her. I like how measured she is. The new work could be really groundbreaking.

  ERIC: I agree.

  CHARLES: I want to do more than buy her work, I want to support her endeavors.

  ERIC: She did say something about wanting a new studio.

  CHARLES: What do they run nowadays?

  ERIC: Depends. Brooklyn. Around a million.

  CHARLES: That’s not bad. I know someone I can call. I’m thinking she’d be good for the board. We have that hole there.

  ERIC: It will definitely solve the diversity issue.

  CHARLES: It will be appropriate to explain the workings of the foundation and the impact it’s having.

  ERIC: I’ll leave that to you. What do you have there?

  CHARLES: Oh, I know how discerning you are about wine. Here’s something special. This is one of the best pinot noirs I’ve found.

  ERIC: I won’t refuse. You know me too well.

  (Charles pours Eric a glass; he sniffs, swirls, and tastes.)

  ERIC: This is a La Tâche, I can tell by its depth and complexity. The darkest red of its kind.

  VIRGINIA: (entering, Charlotte and Alex following) I see you’ve tasted Charles’s surprise.

  ERIC: Yes, it’s very elegant.

  CHARLES: Ginny, what did I tell you? La Tâche is always a winner.

  VIRGINIA: It’s a bloodstain, Charlotte. That’s how it translates from the French, because of its deep color.

  CHARLOTTE: (she takes a sip) C’est un des meilleurs millésimes: vous me gâtez vraiment.

  VIRGINIA: Everyone, please start.

  ERIC: I neglected to tell you Charlotte studied photography in southern France. Arles, was it?

  CHARLOTTE: Yes, I attended École nationale supérieure de la photographie.

  VIRGINIA: Oh. Lovely, lovely.

  (Everyone eats.)

  CHARLES: Ginny, the chicken’s perfect.

  ERIC: I love that you’ve let the fat drip onto the potatoes the way the French do. The only place I’ve had anything as good is in Avignon. This is heavenly. Fantastic food while being surrounded by such beauty.

  ALEX: How can you talk about beauty when we have Nazis in the White House? Didn’t you see Sebastian Gorka in his Nazi uniform at the inauguration and the pictures of the Breitbart staff as the Executive Cabinet? In any case they are just an extreme version of the rest of us.

  CHARLES: Alex, you have to keep things in perspective. There are also many helpful facts.

  ALEX: What helpful facts?

  CHARLES: I don’t support this idea that all white people are a part of what’s wrong in this country. Some of us are working very hard to make all our lives better. You can go as far back as President Johnson’s role in the Civil Rights Act. There’s Obama’s presidency. We need to look at the way the system works.

  ERIC: Amen.

  CHARLOTTE: All things can be true at the same time. Like Bryan Stevenson says, the North may have won the war, but the South won the narrative.

  ALEX: See, Dad, you’re forgetting some of the facts. The reason you can support Charlotte’s work comes in part from the private prisons you construct.

  VIRGINIA: He’s got you there, Dad.

  (Silence.)

  CHARLES: Everybody knows I’m in real estate and construction and, yes, it’s true the state of Ohio contracted with me to build prisons. But prisons are only one of the many things my company builds. We also build hospitals and schools.

  ERIC: Is he any more responsible for what goes on in the prisons than in the hospitals and schools that he builds?

  CHARLOTTE: How do you reconcile yourself to a system that has targeted minorities for profit? How do you make peace with that?

  CHARLES: Would it surprise you to know eighty percent of the inmates at the Ohio Reformatory for Women are white.

  ALEX: In
Ohio maybe … of the two point three million people in prison in America, one million are African Americans. That leaves one point three million cells for everyone else. In Maryland alone seventy-two percent of incarcerated prisoners are black. Don’t you have a prison there too, Dad?

  CHARLES: I am well aware mass incarceration is an important issue for black communities. It might be the issue.

  CHARLOTTE: You say that, but it really doesn’t touch your life.

  (Virginia stands and begins to collect the plates.)

  VIRGINIA: Charles let our son Tim go to prison. He could have used some of those connections of his … but he wouldn’t. Does that make you feel better, Charlotte?

  CHARLES: We’re not going over that again and certainly not now.

  CHARLOTTE: Feel better?

  (Charlotte stands and tries to help Virginia clear the plates.)

  VIRGINIA: Sit down. You’re not the maid. (Virginia leaves.)

  CHARLES: It seems like someone has had a little too much to drink. Charlotte, my apologies.

  ERIC: In any case, Charlotte’s work addresses …

  CHARLES: We were speaking about incarceration. I’m not going to sugarcoat anything, I have too much respect for Charlotte. First of all, my company is a public company; it answers to its shareholders.

  CHARLOTTE: It’s your company.

  CHARLES: Yes, but I don’t make unilateral decisions. Profits drive everything.

  CHARLOTTE: So racism is just an outgrowth of capitalism? Whites don’t really believe they are better than the rest of us?

  CHARLES: In the boardroom decisions are always colorblind. We don’t get distracted. If this administration’s base is solidly white men spewing racist rhetoric, it’s not us.

  ALEX: And white women … fifty-three percent …

  CHARLOTTE: So in the boardroom, whites promoting and supporting themselves economically isn’t racism and building private prisons is helping whom?

  CHARLES: Have you any idea how many nonprofits I fund?

  ALEX: Private prisons, nonprofits …

  ERIC: Give it a rest, Alex.

  ALEX: Mom’s probably back in the kitchen crying again.

  ERIC: I’ll go see how Virginia’s doing.

  CHARLES: She’ll be fine. I was just going to give her a hand. (He leaves.)

  CHARLOTTE: Eric, maybe this is not the best evening for us to—

  ERIC: The best evenings are the evenings we have. Look, if you are thrown by this prison thing—

  CHARLOTTE: Thrown? Yes, but not surprised by the hypocrisy. I understand that wealth touches every aspect of life. I know how the system works. I have an investment portfolio, a retirement fund. It’s just that I thought Charles was making certain choices.

  ERIC: Charles is a good man, he is highly respected by everyone who works with him. He just told me he’s anxious to talk to you about a much bigger role at the foundation. This is a real opportunity for you. Do you realize the resources and access you could have to do whatever work you want? This is a perfect fit. So, over dessert let’s listen to what he has to say. I’m going to go give them a hand so we can get this evening back on track.

  (Eric joins Virginia and Charles in the kitchen. Alex and Charlotte are left alone.)

  ALEX: I just read an article called “White Fragility” by Robin DiAngelo … I should pass it on to my mother … though there is no end to her white tears.

  CHARLOTTE: Aren’t you being a bit hard on her?

  ALEX: Tears can be very effective weapons. She’s always using hers. I’m tired of it.

  CHARLOTTE: She seems upset about your brother.

  ALEX: My brother is upsetting.

  CHARLOTTE: You seem upset. Are you angry?

  ALEX: Angry? Yes, I’m angry at my father for incarcerating your people. Why aren’t you?

  CHARLOTTE: Why not just say people?

  ALEX: Why not just answer my question?

  CHARLOTTE: Isn’t life more complicated than your question? Maybe you are angry at him for not doing everything he could to keep your brother out of prison?

  ALEX: It seems pretty simple to me. You want your work supported by the very people you are critiquing.

  CHARLOTTE: I could say the same of you.

  ALEX: You could, but it’s less of a choice for me …

  CHARLOTTE: In any case, I’m not critiquing your family. I was invited to dinner.

  ALEX: A dinner which is usually served by a black woman who was given the evening off. Wake up, Charlotte. He builds prisons.

  CHARLOTTE: And hospitals and schools …

  ALEX: And prisons.

  CHARLOTTE: Maybe you should go check on your mother …

  ALEX: Before you get in bed with my dad, understand he is willing to turn his back on his own son. Tim would be free if he wasn’t a contradiction to the principles of my father’s foundation.

  CHARLOTTE: Can I ask what happened?

  ALEX: He was a commodities trader with a heroin addiction. Now he’s a nonreturning citizen for a year.

  CHARLOTTE: Difficult to believe someone from your family couldn’t work that out.

  ALEX: My father watched my brother be handcuffed and dragged off to jail, and he did nothing to stop it. My dad is so sure about what he thinks he knows. Tim is a good guy, but living up to my dad’s expectations is too much for anyone. I tried to help him. I’m sorry, I don’t think we should give up on people.

  CHARLOTTE: Maybe he didn’t know what else to do, but that sounds difficult all around.

  ALEX: I miss him. You wouldn’t get it.

  (Eric, Charles, and Virginia reenter the room. Virginia carries dessert.)

  VIRGINIA: Dessert is served. Hazelnut cake with whipped cream and strawberries and fruit salad for the virtuous among us.

  CHARLES: And I have ice wine from Canada.

  ERIC: It’s a dessert wine produced from grapes that have been frozen on the vine. Very rare. Charles is pulling out all the stops for you, Charlotte.

  CHARLES: I think you’ll find it delicious.

  ALEX: Mom, are you okay?

  VIRGINIA: Yes, I’m fine. Thank you, dear.

  CHARLES: Charlotte, I may look conservative, but don’t be fooled. The last year has showed us all that there is entrenched racism and xenophobia that no laws seem to alter. But the political moment can’t be all that matters. Virginia and I have spent a lifetime believing our intentions are good. We have worked to be good people. The problem is our country lacks moral imagination. This is where you come in. Artists, like you, work from a different positioning. You can imagine beyond what is.

  ERIC: Charlotte, you’ll see that you and Charles have a shared vision about the role of art.

  CHARLES: We need art to catapult us out of here. I’m investing in individuals who depict what is really happening out there in the daylight. Change can’t precede recognition. I’ve been thinking about this a long time.

  ALEX: There’s a big gap between recognition and actual change. Throwing money at the wall is not the same as taking to the streets …

  CHARLES: But, Alex, you’ve been out “on the street” as you say, and your protests have changed nothing.

  ALEX: And your foundation—

  CHARLES: (cuts off Alex) My foundation is one pathway to a new reality. I want you to be a part of this, Charlotte.

  CHARLOTTE: Your desire for change is inspiring.

  ERIC: Charles is offering you the ability to use your work to challenge how the public sees, instead of warehousing it like other collectors.

  CHARLOTTE: I’m moved by your ambition to keep the work in the public eye.

  ALEX: But isn’t Dad simply using her work to stage his own “big picture”?

  CHARLES: What the hell, Alex? Charlotte, if I collect your dead, they’ll never be buried. You can be certain of that.

  CHARLOTTE: My dead? Tell me, how is that about my work?

  CHARLES: This entire evening, my dear, is about your work.

  VIRGINIA: Charles, perhaps
she’ll understand if we show the piece we were so moved by. Shall we? Eric, will you help me?

  CHARLES: Alex? (Charles motions for Alex to help.)

  VIRGINIA: Charles purchased this sculpture for Alex, but you’ll see it’s in conversation with your work too. It’s meant to be shown on the floor.

  CHARLES: Alex, come give me a hand.

  VIRGINIA: This is for you: An Anatomy of a Death.

  (Virginia pulls off the cloth.)

  (Silence from everyone.)

  ALEX: Is that an autopsy report?

  VIRGINIA: It’s Michael Brown’s autopsy report!

  CHARLOTTE: (to herself) Michael Brown?

  ALEX: (quietly) I can’t even … You can’t own Michael Brown.

  CHARLES: Wait. It’s not Michael Brown.

  ALEX: It’s not? A minute ago you said you were collecting Charlotte’s dead. “They’ll never be buried.” Remember?

  CHARLES: I meant it metaphorically. This is a representation of the violence against Brown.

  CHARLOTTE: What do you mean it isn’t Michael Brown?

  CHARLES: Well, it’s a photograph of a diagram. That diagram documents the violence inflicted on a black man. Isn’t this the purpose of art—your art—to make the invisible visible?

  CHARLOTTE: Michael Brown’s body was on the street for hours. Isn’t everything that happened to him visible? This (gestures toward the piece) is not revealing anything we haven’t seen.

  CHARLES: For me, to see exactly where and how many bullets entered the body of this man, who is only a year younger than Alex … was, to say the least, upsetting.

  VIRGINIA: I have to tell you, I felt sick. The entire incident was so violent and so unnecessary.

  CHARLOTTE: It made you sick. It made you sad. And you bought this?

  VIRGINIA: It affected us far more than all the accounts on television.

  CHARLES: This autopsy is only about one thing. It gestures toward structural racism.

  CHARLOTTE: And what does that mean?

  CHARLES: It means the Ferguson police department was systemically harassing and arresting black citizens in Brown’s neighborhood for years. This piece points to Officer Wilson. If it’s a portrait of anyone, it’s a portrait of him.

  ALEX: It’s Brown’s autopsy.

  CHARLOTTE: But according to you, Charles, the only way to get to Officer Wilson is through Michael Brown’s body?