There was all this talk when Obama got elected about how we were living in a postracial world. But we're not. Until we get to the point where James Earl Jones can play, say, George Washington, race matters. You wouldn't put a white actor in blackface to play Othello. You shouldn't have a white actor in what amounts to yellowface to play Asian.
Interpretation
The quote addresses the illusion of a postracial society, emphasizing the ongoing significance of race in casting and representation in media.
David Henry Hwang reflects on the misconception that society has moved past racial issues, particularly in the context of the arts and media. He argues that true equality in representation has not yet been achieved, highlighting examples of cultural appropriation in casting practices, which reinforce the idea that race still matters in how stories are told and who gets to tell them.
In practice
During a panel discussion on diversity in Hollywood, this quote can be used to emphasize the current state of racial representation in film.
My first plays were amazingly bad, but I had a teacher who thought I had promise, and he kept working with me. I finally went to a summer workshop before my senior year with people like Sam Shepard and Maria Irene Fornes who encouraged me to write from my subconscious, and suddenly all this material about culture clash came out.
As Asian-Americans, the charge that is often lobbed against us is sort of the least original: the idea that somehow we're perpetual foreigners, that we can't be trusted, and that even my father, who was patriotic to the point that it was kind of a joke among his children, would be accused of being disloyal to America.
You can't be a playwright without believing there's an audience for adventurous work.
My work has always been controversial within certain segments of the Asian-American community. This is a community that is generally not represented well at all on the stage, in the media, etc. So on those few occasions when something comes along, everybody feels obligated to make sure that it represents his own point of view.
This is the ultimate cruelty, isn't it? That I can talk and talk and to anyone listening, it's only air--too rich a diet to be swallowed by a mundane world.
I am sometimes shocked by the blasphemies of those who think themselves pious.
If given the choice between Righteousness and Peace, I choose Righteousness.
Nothing is yours. It is to use. It is to share. If you will not share it, you cannot use it.
It's not crime that makes us more punitive in the United States. It's the way we respond to crime and how we view those people who have been labeled criminals.
To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.
Heaven does without doing through its purity, Earth does without doing through its calmness.
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