Welcome back. It has been a tough journey, but here we are persevering the best way we can in 2021.
A few weeks ago, I watched Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom on Netflix, as millions of us have. It is an engaging and thought-provoking story that speaks on race, religion, the wealth gap, and the historic exploitation of black recording artists by white record executives. I’ve been a huge fan of August Wilson since reading his play, Fences at the age of nine- and re-reading it more than six times since then. If you haven’t read The Coldest Day of the Year or Two Trains Running, please stop reading this, type both titles (actually every piece of work he’s written) into Google, and pour over these amazing written works of art- then come back. There’s no question that August Wilson truly was the theater’s “poet of Black America,” but I digress.
There’s a dialogue in the second act/part of the movie from Ma Rainey, played by the marvelous, award-winning Viola Davis, to the leader of the band who is also the guitar and trombone player, Cutler, played by the award-winning actor Coleman Domingo (side note- he’s one of my favorite actors, have you caught up on the latest season of Euphoria?). You learn insight into how her record company views her and why she speaks to the executives any way she wants. “All they want is my voice. Well. I done learned that, and they gonna treat me like I want to be treated no matter how much it hurt them. They back there now calling me all kinds of names…calling me everything but a child of God. But they can’t do nothing else. They ain’t go what they wanted yet. As soon as they get my voice down on them recording machines, then it’s just like I’d be some whore, and they roll over and put their pants on. Ain’t got no use for me then.” The way Viola Davis delivers these lines hit me like a brick. So many individuals have had their talent and creativity drained from them by their jobs as if they are giving blood- myself included. Over the past couple of years, I took the time to learn that it has been my fault for not setting boundaries of what or how much a company or individuals can take from me- the word no is easier for some than others. So like Ma Rainey (minus a few explicative words), I too have clapped back to those who try to see how much they can stretch my capabilities. You’re smart, so I know you already know that whomever you work with/for, they need you just as much, if not more than you need them. If they didn’t need you, they wouldn’t have hired you for your skillset. Sure they can bring on someone else, but they want you, so teach them how you want to be treated. Of course, you want the agreed-upon work to be precise and complete on time, but don’t work to the point of exhaustion, don’t allow delayed payments of an invoice or paycheck, and don’t tolerate disrespect from anyone in any form.
I hope we all continue to build up our inner strength and loudly speak up for ourselves the way Ma Rainey did.
The original Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom Playbill from 1984.