Event: The Defamation Experience

Another Event on Campus I attended thi Semester was the Defamation Experience. This event was on a Monday night in the Student Union Ballroom.  This is a program which is put on at schools throughout the country which touches on the topics of race, class, gender, religion, and the law. The event start out with a play of a courtroom case. The case follows a black woman who is suing a white man for defamation. When she went to his home for an interview for a project for her company, he then accused her of stealing hi watch to her other main business partner, who then in turn decided to use a different company, and ultimately her business failed. Each person involved in the case gives their side of the story along with the Lawyers as would follow a normal court case. Then at the end, rather than having the judge or a acting jury make the decision on whether or not the case was defamation, the audience becomes the jury and makes the decision.
The case itself was interesting in that it utilized it’s actors and their identities in ways that really made you think. For example, the lawyer defending the white man who was being sued was also a woman of color. This brought in another level of the aspects of societal oppression which exist and how they are also internalized. They provided compelling arguments for both sides of the story that really made the audience think about how they would vote, even if they came in with a predetermined idea on who they would vote for.
The discussion jury aspect made it different than any other play or play-like event that I had attended in that it brought the audience into the situation. I found it really interesting to hear each person's take on the story and how they felt throughout the performance. There was a lot of talk about identity and the process of relating to the characters and how that impacted a person’s vote. Multiple people explained that while the different arguments made, made them think, they still felt a connection to specific characters who they related to and ultimately felt that they would still vote in favor of the person they related to.
I think this event therefore also ties back into our anchor of identity and its importance. Throughout this event, not only were the ways in which identities experience power and exploitation in our society expressed, it also showed the connection people have with their identities and how they ultimately can make you relate to another person.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODmrhFggVh0