Dump the “they were all racists” pabulum

Smoke on the Mountain is set in a Baptist Church in North Carolina circa 1938. Let’s get the low-hanging, low-brow, low-intellect, judgmental BS out of the way so that we can have a grown-up conversation about this. All the characters in the show are racists, because they are in a Baptist Church in North Carolina circa 1938.

That’s for the infantile social justice warrior who lacks elegance, context, and nuance. Happy? Now go back to the children’s table and eat your gourmet mac ‘n’ cheese so the adults can enjoy the show. Clearly I’m a white, cisgendered male.

Believe it folks, the “they were all racists” clause is becoming a necessity. The authors of the Constitution, they may have been racists, but what they created is not, at its core, a racist or sexist document. Stick with me here.

The anti-slavery movement was able to use the Constitution to support their cause. The Confederate States couldn’t, which is why they seceded. The women’s suffrage movement could use the Constitution to support their cause. The opposition could not. Martin Luther King Jr. could quote the Constitution to support the Civil Rights Movement. The opposition could not.

The content of the Constitution has, until Citizens United, supported the “right side of history.” If we are to get anywhere with anything then we need to give up this “they were all racists” pabulum and instead start looking at the content of what has been produced. Didn’t MLK say something along those lines somewhere in some speech which might be quoted from time to time?

The content of Smoke on the Mountain is full of heart and faith — true faith. I’m talking about the kind of faith which answers basic questions with a bible verse.

“Should we go to McDonald’s for lunch?”

“Acts 15:20, ‘...Tell them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals, and from blood.’”

“So that’s a no?”

If you’ve never experienced such a situation then Smoke on the Mountain is the perfect opportunity to get your God on without all the commitment.

It runs through November 19 at Lamb’s Players in Coronado.