Raising the Curtain on Hypocrisy--Why "Hamilton" Backlash is a Tempest in a Teapot

For the cast of the hit Broadway show “Hamilton: An American Musical,” it had to have seemed somewhat ironic that America’s Vice-President-elect Mike Pence even wanted to see them perform.

After all, it’s about Alexander Hamilton. an immigrant from the Caribbean who rose to the highest levels of American government, becoming our nation's first Secretary of the Treasury. Javier Munoz, the man who took over the role after the star and creator Lin-Manuel Miranda took his last bow, is openly gay. They are both Hispanic. And in the days since Donald Trump was declared the winner of America’s 2016 Presidential election, a wave of anti-immigrant, race-based attacks have spread across America.

“Hamilton” made Broadway history at the 2016 Tony Awards when its multiracial cast won 3 of the 4 “lead/featured actor in a musical” honors. In fact, when I saw the show back in July, the only featured white performer was Jonathan Groff, whose hilarious turn as King George III was a sheer delight. The musical was created to push boundaries, to disrupt our thinking about America’s founding fathers and about who can be a Broadway star. Indeed, it took a non-white artist to produce a vehicle that offered so many non-white performers an opportunity to shine, to prove that anyone with the persistence, training and mettle to stand on a Broadway stage should be able to portray any character, without having their racial identity be an automatic barrier.

Regardless of how the "Hamilton" cast viewed Pence's presence in the Richard Rodgers Theater, I was a bit puzzled by it, and I’m not just being facetious. Of course he has the right to attend any show on or off Broadway, or anywhere else in this country at that rate. And just because he's a conservative Republican doesn't mean he's racist or that he wouldn't like or appreciate hip-hop or rap music, two of the many forms featured in the show. But given what’s transpired in America since November 9th, don’t the producers and actors connected to “Hamilton” have an equal right to address the “elephant in the room,” i.e. the very real concerns that people of color, the LGBTQ community, Muslim Americans and immigrants are already being harassed and threatened by supporters of the next Administration? After all, it’s not as if “Hamilton” is the first time that art has been used to transmit political or humanitarian messages, and it won’t be the last.

For a moment, let’s put Donald Trump’s petulant Tweets in response to this “controversy” aside to examine some baseline facts. The play’s producers and actors didn’t boo Mike Pence; members of the audience did. How that got conflated to prop up outrage over seeming mistreatment of Pence by the actor who addressed him is disingenuous at best. Pence himself was reported to have acknowledged the response as an example of America's free speech rights. Bottom line? A man who has championed as many controversial issues as Indiana Governor Pence has (so-called “conversion therapy” for gays and his anti-abortion stance to name a few) can surely handle a few raucous catcalls.

What’s most intriguing to me is some of the broader response to the statement made by African American actor Brandon Victor Dixon, who portrays Aaron Burr in the musical. Here’s what Dixon said at the end of the Friday, Nov. 18th performance,

“You know, we had a guest in the audience this evening. Vice President-elect Pence, I see you’re walking out, but I hope you will hear us just a few more moments. There’s nothing to boo here, ladies and gentlemen. We’re all here sharing a story of love. We have a message for you, sir, and we hope that you will hear us out. And I encourage everybody to pull out your phones and Tweet and post, because this message needs to be spread far and wide, O.K.?

Vice President-elect Pence, we welcome you, and we truly thank you for joining us here at “Hamilton: An American Musical.” We really do.

“We, sir — we — are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us, our planet, our children, our parents, or defend us and uphold our inalienable rights, sir. But we truly hope that this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and to work on behalf of all of us. ALL of us.

“Again, we truly thank you for sharing this show, this wonderful American story told by a diverse group of men, women of different colors, creeds and orientations.”

Just what is disrespectful about that statement? What could be construed as partisan or threatening? I’ll answer those questions…ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Especially in light of the vitriol that’s already been exhibited less than a month after Election Day. There’s no denying that in some sectors, however relatively small they may be, Decision 2016 gave the green light for directing vile, racist sentiments toward minorities, immigrants and anybody who doesn’t agree with or support the outcome of the election. And this is not just schoolyard bullying or name-calling. As I previously posted on LinkedIn, shortly after the election all of the black freshmen at the University of Pennsylvania received a text that informed them they were part of a "nigger lynching" group. Also, a Muslim teacher in Georgia was told to hang herself with her hijab because she isn't allowed in Trump's America. Hispanic students have been bullied and threatened in schools. And a black doll was found hanging from a noose in an elevator at a New York college after the election.

There are many many more incidents I could name. So many that the Ushahdi crowd sourcing app developed to track violent episodes in Kenya after the 2007 Presidential election is now being used for the same purpose in America. So let me get this straight. Mike Pence has a few uncomfortable moments in a theater and Donald Trump thinks he deserves an apology. Meanwhile, black and brown people in America are grappling with palpable concerns that they might be physically harmed or worse by the very people that the Trump campaign emboldened to exhibit vicious, threatening behavior.

Do we deserve an apology? Why, yes…yes we do. But it won’t be forthcoming any time soon because that’s not how the game is played.

Consider these lyrics from “Hamilton,” sung by the Aaron Burr character:

"Hamilton doesn't hesitate

He exhibits no restraint

He takes and he takes and he takes

And he keeps winning anyway

He changes the game

He plays and he raises the stakes..."

Now, please don’t get it twisted; in no way, shape or form am I comparing Donald Trump to Alexander Hamilton. What I am comparing is political capital--power--which is the same around the globe and has been throughout human history. Those who wield power often feel immune to the slings and arrows that pierce the common psyche. Their goal is to attain and maintain that power, for as long as possible…or at least until they’ve achieved their personal goals or those of their party/affiliated group.

Conversely, throughout human history what has been the premier form of criticism and/or resistance to power? Art. From the earliest cave etchings to the plays, the paintings, the songs, the sculptures, the mosaics, the photographs and cartoons, artists have seized the power to rebel, to condemn the system, to highlight wrongs, to speak their truth and perhaps amplify the voices of the voiceless. They have risked physical harm, incarceration and even death in doing so, because their passion for their beliefs outweighed any fear of reprisal.

For me, that's what's most ironic about this “Hamilton” backlash, manufactured in part by the ravenous 24 hour news cycle and kept stirred by the empowered "stakeholders" who fueled America’s so-called rebuke of the Washington elite. This Broadway epic about an iconic character in American history is basically just a love story to the UNITED States. At least until recently, it seemed we had traveled a long way toward social and racial justice, and one manifestation of our journey was this groundbreaking musical experience that transmits a powerful message about inclusion and equality.

That the man whose rise to power has unleashed a tide of hate and threats of violence towards people of color would declare his offense about this particular musical and demand an apology is the height of hypocrisy.

After all, if the Ku Klux Klan can mount victory rallies in honor of the new American Presidential Administration, why can’t the multiracial cast of a Broadway show mount a plea for tolerance and protection from what the Klan and their ilk are capable of?