Miss Evers' Boys is a play about the very essence of racism. Not the classic form of racism that we see every day-the product of classic Jim Crow-but racism as more than just a social function. The scene was set in the 1930's. Slavery had ended but there still lived a large number of uneducated African Americans undergoing numerous social issues. The main issue of the play was the spread of syphilis; primarily in African Americans. The government played a large part in this social injustice by permitting doctors to deceive illiterate African Americans in order to use their bodies for an unsafe experiment.
What is most angering about this play was the audacity of the American government to blatantly lie to African Americans to use them for experiments. They subjected them to harmful treatments such as back shots and mercury rubs to attempt to cure them; however, even after a safe, effective cure had been discovered they would not make it available to the patients.
These misgivings continued all the way until the 1970's, and the debt against African Americans involved amounted to a measly $10 million settlement. Just 40 years ago, America was still committing inhumane transgressions against the oppressed.
Although unjust experiments aren't being held on African American's today, a lot of underprivileged are still not receiving adequate health care. How is this not another form of modern racism?
In conclusion, this play successfully ignited an unforgiving anger within me. Not anger for revenge, but anger to make a change.
Kristen Bailey
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