Sanity prevails!
CINCINNATI -- The show will go on, officials said at a high school that cancelled a scheduled student performance due to racial concerns.
Students were given permission Thursday to perform “Ten Little Indians,” a 1939 play based on an Agatha Christie novel, following recent discussions about freedom of speech and diversity.
Officials had called off performances scheduled for this weekend after local NAACP president Gary Hines complained that the novel’s original title used a racial slur to describe African-Americans.
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“Learning this history caused a negative impact on some members of our community, our staff and our students, (and) the original decision to cancel the play was made out of respect for these valuable members of our schools and community,” said superintendent Mike Taylor.
Students will be allowed to perform the play Tuesday, Dec. 13, and Wednesday, Dec. 14, at the school, Taylor said.
He said officials hoped the play’s cancellation would open up discussion on inclusion and tolerance, but Taylor said the issue soon became an emotional one.
“Unfortunately the community dialogue in recent days has become focused more on distracting issues like censorship and the NAACP's role in our community,” Taylor said. “This has taken away from the direction we hoped for and our students have been caught in the middle.”
Taylor apologized to students and their families, and thanked Hines for bringing the issue to officials’ attention.
Taylor said the school also learned that students had been using an older, now out-of-print, edition of the play, which more recently has been printed under its original U.S. title, “And Then There Were None.”
Students will perform that version of the play next week, Taylor said.
Taylor added that students and community members would work together to determine some way to honor diversity, either before or after the performance.