Brian Stokes Mitchell Weighs In on RAGTIME Censorship: 'It's a Great Disservice'

This spring, Cherry Hill High School will perform a different kind of Ragtime- without any racist or offensive language included. The school explains in an official statement:

The Cherry Hill High School East community is approaching the production of this show from a learning disposition. Within our educational community we have been engaging in a dialogue regarding the offensive language in the show. We are indebted to the Cherry Hill African American Civic Association as well as individuals in our community for joining us in this discussion regarding the use of bigoted language in the script. After a very open and productive meeting between representatives from the East Staff and the Cherry Hill African American Civic Association, we confirmed the decision to remove offensive language from the enacted script. In addition, all students at Cherry Hill High School East will participate in learning activities stemming from Ragtime in an effort to use our history to further expose the ugliness of racism. We apologize for any negative impact that the potential inclusion of the racist language had on members of our community and we are thankful that we have educational leaders, student leaders, and community leaders with whom we can partner when concerns arise.

Now original star of Ragtime Brian Stokes Mitchell has weighed in on the matter. He tells Howard Sherman of the Arts Integrity Initiative: "To take the ugly language out of Ragtime is to sanitize it and that does it a great disservice. People should be offended by those words. But it's not done in a way that glorifies the people saying it. Rather, it allows the show to take people on a journey. It's Coalhouse's journey, it's Sarah's journey, it's the journey of the 20th century and it's still our journey today. The n-word is still thrown around without empathy."

"Ragtime is about how we get through ugliness, how we talk together, work together, get through it together," he continues. "The show takes us to the next steps. That's what our country needs to do. See this show, acknowledge the language, but don't censor it. This show results in catharsis because of what it says, and what the audience of all kinds of people experience together."

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