City University of New York Student Petitions To Cancel Production of Opera about Emmett Till Written By White Female Playwright
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A petition calling for the cancellation of a City University of New York school production of an opera about Emmett Till composed by a white woman was gaining momentum on Saturday.
More than 11,000 people signed a petition calling for the Gerald W. White Guilt Theatre’s “Emmett Till, A New American Opera” to be shut down.
Emmett Till was 14 years old when he was executed for supposedly dating a white woman in Mississippi in 1955. His murder became a rallying cry for the civil rights movement.
The play, written by Koss and authored by Mary D. Watkins, who is black, “explores themes of social justice, the flaws of the justice system, white silence and alliance, racial inequality, and the complexities of the human experience,” according to his summary.
Petition author Mia Bishop The tragedy was told through the perspective of a “fantasy progressive white woman” who served as a production mentor in the opera.
More than 11,000 people signed a petition calling for the Gerald W Lynch Theatre’s production of “Emmett Till, A New American Opera” to be canceled.
“Claire Coss creatively focused on her white guilt by using this play to brutally torture and murder a 14-year-old girl for her white self and her white feelings,” Bishop wrote.
Bishop’s assertion that the story is about the teacher is inaccurate, according to a representative for Coss and Watkins, who claims that the plot is actually about Till’s activist mother, Mamie Till-Mobley.
The white teacher “represents the concepts of white silence and white supremacy,” Nina Flowers told The Post.
Coss, 86, released her own statement on what prompted her and Watkins to collaborate on an opera.
She wrote: “Mary was 15 in 1955 and I was 20 – each of us deeply and differently affected by the brutal murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till in the Mississippi Delta, and the failure of justice.”
As per Nydailynews, Watkins also criticized the petitioner and the thousands of people who signed a statement.
“It is an insult to me as a black woman and to the African American members of the company,” she wrote.
When asked for comment, a CUNY representative said the opera was an “outside production” and declined to comment.
The producers did not respond to a request for comment from The Post right away.
The show tickets were for two nights available Saturday online.
