Oakland Playwright Cleavon Smith Takes on Police Violence, Theories of Social Change in 'The Incrementalist'

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KQED

News Commentary, News, Politics

4.2 • 727 Ratings

🗓️ 3 May 2022

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In his latest play, "The Incrementalist," Oakland playwright Cleavon Smith explores the tension between those who advocate immediate, radical reform to address injustices and those who believe in an incremental approach to changing systems and policies over time. Playing at Berkeley's Aurora Theatre Company through May 15, "The Incrementalist" follows a public intellectual who is brought to UC Berkeley’s campus in 2022 to help facilitate conversations concerning police violence after campus police attack and injure a Black Student Union leader during a protest. The play also includes scenes from student life in 1992, highlighting both the ongoing issues of racism and police violence and the ongoing debate over how best to address them. Smith joins Forum in studio to talk about the play, as well as his personal journey from Mississippian to Californian and from naval officer to playwright. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:31.6	... From KQD in San Francisco, I'm Alexis Madrigal.
0:45.9	This morning, many people are waking up feeling the weight of an almost unthinkable
0:49.9	legal decision, the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, which would radically restrict abortion
0:56.0	access. It would be the completion of a 50-year campaign that has chipped away at women's rights.
1:02.0	Elected leaders seem impotent. The streets are calling and activists are pondering what more radical tactics might be called for.
1:09.0	Our guest, Clibon Smith, explores these kinds of tensions
1:12.5	between radicals and reformers and his new play, The Incrementalist. The work is informed by Smith's
1:17.7	own history as a child in Mississippi, a Navy officer, and an English professor at Berkeley City
1:22.8	College. He joins me in the studio after this news.
1:34.1	Welcome to Forum. I'm Alexis Madrigal.
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