A Reflection of the "Platanos y Collard Greens"

On Thursday evening, I went to see Platanos y Collard Greens, a play put on by numerous clubs and organizations at Lehigh University. Going into the play, I was not sure what to expect out of it. After a quick google search on the play, I thought it would be similar to West Side Story, which I saw on Broadway a few years ago. However, the play turned out to be more of a comedy than it was a dramatic romance. All jokes aside, this production brought to light many weighty issues about race that still presently exist in our society.

In short, the play Platanos y Collard Greens was about a forbidden relationship between two college students, a Latina named Angelita and an African American named Freeman. Angelita’s mother supposedly wants the best for her daughter, which means she cannot be with a black man, including Freeman. Moreover, her mother would go to great lengths to break up Angelita and Freeman. She even fakes a heart attack in order to make her daughter feel worse about going against her wishes.

Platanos y Collard Greens presented a powerful message about the stereotypes and racism that are still present in the Latino and African American community. It is ironic that these two races, even with cultures that both originated from African roots and have both suffered from great injustices of society in the past, have persistent hostile attitudes against one another. For instance, even though the Dominican Republic and Haiti share the same island, their societies are far from being on friendly terms.

An interesting point that the play brought up was the fact that colorism greatly affects Latino and Black communities today. Colorism is discrimination based on an individual’s skin color. It was said in the play that saying to someone “hey light skin” was a compliment and “hey dark skin” was a nasty insult. It is mind-boggling to me that people of the same race would classify each other based on the slight differences in skin tone. The play also mentioned a U.S. president who had many slaves and was known to have raped and impregnate several of his female slaves. When his slaves gave birth to his children, he separated them based on the hue of their skin and designated them to different “jobs” based on which group they were in.

Platanos y Collard Greens highlighted several serious issues about the presence of racism and stereotypes in the Black and Latino population. However, in light of all these problematic attitudes in society, the play was able to discuss these issues in a comedic and light-hearted tone. You could tell that the audience was very amused and greatly affected by the emotions that the play brought about. The actors also did a wonderful job in their performances. The characters in Platanos y Collard Greens really took on the role of expressing the challenges and obstacles that persist in Latino and African American culture by illustrating how they greatly influence relationships between family, friends, and lovers.