Congratulations to the magnificent Kwame Kwei-Armah (above centre) for his magnificent play, Beneatha’s Place.
I saw it for the first time back in July and was stunned into contemplative silence for at least two hours afterwards.
I knew that I needed to see it again and my good friend Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP (above right) – who had also already seen it – agreed.
This multi-layed, multi-faceted play spoke to the core of our beings in so many ways, but particularly as Black women involved in political, legal and social campaigns for reparations, racial justice and gender equity.
These famous words by George Orwell, quoted by Beneatha’s husband Joseph, struck me the most: “(Those who control the present, control the past and) those who control the past control the future.” We should never forget this.
Kwame has given a new generation a voice we always thought we had, but now definitely know that we do.
I thank Kwame again for his brilliance as a human, a playwright, and a visionary.
