Balancing on Unstable Surfaces: Phillis in Boston, The Real James Bond was Dominican and A Beautiful Resistance

I was born in 1958, the same year China Achebe, a Nigerian novelist wrote “Until the lion learns how to write, every story will glorify the hunter.” in Things Fall Apart. I witnessed the words of lions this week in three performances, Phillis in Boston, The Real James Bond was Dominican and A Beautiful Resistance Live. This week’s  theme in Balancing on Unstable Surfaces, those who seek to deny history want to repeat it. Yes, this is the statement, when the lion writes the story.⁰

Chapter 1: Phillis in Boston by Ade Solanke

The play celebrates friendship, love, community, and joy by centering Wheatley’s relationships with her friend and confidant Obour Tanner, her husband-to-be John Peters, and the dynamic abolitionist Prince Hall. Phillis in Boston examines slavery in New England through the lens of Wheatley’s complex relationship with her enslaver Susanna Wheatley, who supported Wheatley’s literary ambitions even as she kept her in bondage.

Phillis in Boston

Phillis Wheatley was the first African American woman to have a book of published poetry. Technically, the first edition of the book was published in London because American houses refused to print the works of people of color. Growing up, Phillis Wheatley’s book of poetry was on our bookshelf beside Edgar Allen Poe.¹ The local “colored” YWCA was Phillis Wheatley Branch in Newport News Virginia. I was surprised earlier this year when a group of friends discussed they’d never heard of her. I I love history and the arts and her poem, “On Being Brought from Africa to America” that resonated as a child of segregation in the 60’s still has profound impact as an adult of racism in the 20’s.

Some view our sable race with scornful eye,
“Their colour is a diabolic die.”
Remember, Christians, Negros, black as Cain,
May be refin’d, and join th’ angelic train.”

Philliss Wheatley

The 300 published books of Phillis Wheatley’s poems were shipped from London to Boston on the Dartmouth. While I’d heard of the Dartmouth as the embargoed ship of the Boston Tea Party fame, I experienced an edge of the seat thriller as Phillis sets off to get her books off the ship before it is forced to return to London unable to unload its cargo. We were never taught about the books on the ship in school. What we were taught, with a fresh perspective, is chilling.

We were taught in school, the rebel colonists, disguised as Indians², boarded the ships and in protest of the tea tax, the threw all of the tea into the  Boston Harbor. Disguised as Native Americans? Why? To avoid capture, to place blame? Let’s talk through this. If they were caught, the jig is up, they could be identified. If the British sought retaliation, was the idea the soldiers would go after the Mohawks or Narragansett people. Maybe have those tribes wiped out? How does that work as a form of protest though? Curious, just curious, I googled. 

The act of wearing “Indian dress” was to express to the world that the American colonists identified themselves as “Americans” and no longer considered themselves British subjects. They were not dressed as Indians in the classic sense with headdresses and full authentic regalia; rather they wore wool blankets matchcoat style, painted their faces with soot, and employed other modes of dress commonly known at the time as “Indian dress”, which had been adopted by soldiers during the French and Indian War.

Boston Tea Party – A Revolutionary Experience

I need a moment and a shot botox to remove the shock off my face. I think, who writes the story? Moving on, if you can make it, Phillis is Boston runs through December 3rd. On December 4th, The Faces of Phillis will be performed at the Boston Public Library. Unable to make a live performance? See the video excerpt Phillis in London.

Chapter 2: The Real Jame Bond is Dominican by Chris Rivas

What happens when a James Bond-obsessed Dominican boy in Queens (who won’t go anywhere without his nerf gun), finds out that the real James Bond was Dominican? Learning that Bond creator Ian Fleming drew upon the life and career of Porfirio Rubirosa—a Dominican diplomat, international polo champion, race-car driver, pilot, and spy— as the inspiration for the classic 007 character shook performer Christopher Rivas’ very foundation and set him on a quest to find his true self.

The Real James Bond was Dominican

On my first trip to Boston, I grabbed a slice of pizza for lunch and noticed the marquee across the street, The Real James Bond was Dominican. Yo that’s Oscar ³ was my first thought and the second was, yup, this is the place to be,  I saw the performance opening night this week. With Porfirio Rubirosa as an anchor, Chris Rivas delivered an astounding tour de force of code switching, culture and life as non white in America. He covered the gambit from the paper bag test, skin whitening products and pinching the nose wether by thumb and forefinger or clothespin. To experience this in a community, with an audience where we people of color would occasionally glance at each other with a look of ..did he just say that? Y’all, the clothes pin, thumb and first two fingers on those nose. While James Bond was based on Porfirio Rubirosa, the world knows James Bond to be white.

“Fleming was restrained from identifying Rubirosa as his inspiration given Rubirosa’s Creole, or mixed racial background; Fleming’s audience in the 1950s and early ’60s may not, unfortunately, have been very accepting of such a revelation,” says Voelker.

Ian Fleming’s James Bond Based on Porfirio Rubirosa According to New Research by Forensic Historian Daniel J. Voelker

Chris Rivas even touched on the latest controversy by the current Bond author, Andrew Horowitz. When asked about Idris Elba, a fan favorite for the role, Horowitz responded, “For me, Idris Elba is a bit too rough to play the part. It’s not a colour issue. I think he is probably a bit too ‘street’ for Bond.” Unless you are a person of color, the outrage against James Bond being anything but white does not land he same way. That’s not to say someone may not have disdain for the comment. There is a term called weathering, the cumulative effect of anti whiteness on people of color. Do you have any idea what this does? The soul crushing reality of anti whiteness?

This brings to mind the outrage when Halle Bailey was cast as Disney’s The Little Mermaid and the fall out once the movie was released by those opposed to a non white Arial. Even after sites like IMDB and Rotten tomatoes changed their rating systems because of unsually high activity of rating reviews, some insisted it was Disney’s attempt not to have a flop. Who writes the story?

As a part of DNAworks, there was a discussion after the performance. To hear young voices who saw themselves represented on stage and how the story resonated and moved them was pure joy. Juxtaposed to this was the reminder of why this work and conversations are vital. There was a gentleman who proudly spoke of growing up with three black families in his neighborhood in Cambridge, color did not mater. He looked to be my age or older which meant this was the 60’s, which meant he had no idea what it took for those families to be there, what it meant to grow up in house where you could go for weeks and not see yourself represented on TV, or in a magazine. He had no idea, that before those kids left the house, there was the heck, make sure you are clean, make sure you aren’t ashy and use your best manners. While the performance covered aspects of this, it did not occur to him, this was exactly what the Rivas conveyed we do things to make white people comfortable.

I don’t know where or when or if ever the next performance of The Real James Brown is Dominican will be. However, there is the podcast series by Chris Rivas, Brown Enough that kicks off with a 10 episode series Rubiosa.

Chapter Three: A Beautiful Resistance Live – Curated & Hosted by Jeneé Osterheldt

We are more than police brutality and suffering. We can acknowledge injustice without being defined that way. Blackness is not a burden. Here, we tell our stories and our struggles, too, through the lens of love. We amplify the truths of Black folk and other people of color living as their fullest selves in a region, in a country, set up to keep them from doing just that. Their joy is a form of resistance. Join us on Instagram @abeautifulresistance.

A Beautiful Resistance Mission

A spreadsheet brought me to Boston. I made a list of what I wanted in a city. I had my top three and subscribed to newspapers to get a feel for the community. One of those publications was The Boston Globe. This video story about Chef Douglas captivated me. When my broker in Boston gave a gift certificate to Mida it was one of those moments. She had no idea. I recognized the restaurant from my city search and the Boston Globe. It was there, during dinner I marinated over the four homes and neighborhoods I saw over two days and chose the condo I live in now.

This Tuesday was full circle. Ade Solanke (Phillis in Boston) emailed me about an upcoming event. Search for Jeneé Osterheldt and the Museum of Science for details. BOOM. I didn’t immediately make the connection as a clicked online for my ticket for Jeneé Osterheldt’s A Beautiful Resistance. Friday was my third live performance of the week. I can only summarize the essence of something that struck me deeply that Jeneé said at the close of the program, it isn’t going to happen in our life time, but we are going to make as much progress as we can for the next generation. I hope to capture what she so eloquently expressed from the replay. What I can do is repeat the question she asked after each interview. For today, what makes your life a beautiful resistance?

Chapter Four: Boston Bous

My brother asked about my week and commented, “well, that’s why you moved there.” He’s right. I love theater. Thru Philliss in Boston, I saw history in a new context with a tale of 300 books, the revolutionary war and enslavement. I am left to ponder why the rebels disguised themselves as Native Americans. The Real James Bond is Dominican, gave me more history, like the Haitian massacre of 1937 and I’m left to synthesize the impact of centuries of colonialism. A Beautiful Resistance was a profound connection with stories of people who decades later. traversed the same spaces and places as me. What makes my life a beautiful resistance today? My brain is STEM (science, technology engineering and math) and my heart is the arts, music and theater. Here in Boston, I can embrace both and let the lion write this story.

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⁰This would normally be 3 blog posts, but it’s like an outfit, it’s all coordinated. The chapters allow you to read and rest, comeback later. Please do check out the links to the performances; the arts are so vital. We need the balance between science and art.

¹ Little did I know I’d one day be in Boston, home to both. Of course, I have to admit, as an 8 year old, I knew very little…period.

² It was the early ’60s when America used the misnomer by Christopher Columbus who called the indigenous people Indians (the Spanish term for Hindus) insisting he’d arrived in India.

³ Oscar is the character Christopher Rivas played on the comedy, Call Me Kat.