Uptighty Whiteys

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Friedman had been hired to do two 45-minute performances back-to-back. He had planned a 30-minute show (including bits like “Jewpac & Dr. Dreidel” and “Here Comes the Cracker”) followed by 15 minutes of Q and A, and the first performance seemed to go off without a hitch. But halfway through the second, just after his “W.I.T.E. Radio” sketch, a couple of faculty heavies showed up to tell him he was through. “W.I.T.E. Radio” consists of an exchange between a white disc jockey and a black caller concerned about the DJ’s pronunciation of “nigger.” “That’s n-i-g-g-a,” the caller says.

Friedman got the hook because “the language and themes didn’t fit our program,” says Lake Forest’s assistant principal, Jay Hoffmann. “A lot of the younger kids jumped to some wrong conclusions. Several black students were offended. I had quite a few calls the next day, including one man who said he was affiliated with the NAACP and was keeping track of what we’re doing.”

When hundreds of people tried to squeeze into the small District 113 headquarters, the meeting was moved to Highland Park High School, where 59 of them stood up to express their opinions for two minutes each. Speakers included a philosophy professor who said the question is “what is drama?”; a Bible-quoting reverend “glad to stand in a public school and bring God into the discussion”; classmates of Gary Sinise and Jeff Perry who remember when they created a theater in this very high school cafeteria; a former medic who said we don’t have to see everything and in Greek drama people die offstage; a parent emeritus who wants “more demeaning religious references, more people who can challenge every stupid, primitive superstition”; and bare-bellied 16-year-olds claiming that “we’re already being sheltered enough by living in Deerfield.” Grady Hauser pointed out that the Heidi excerpts wouldn’t make the cut on radio or television. Nearly everyone was worried about a slippery slope–either to censorship or to Sodom. According to assistant superintendent Susan Benjamin, 29 speakers were in favor of a policy, 29 were opposed, and one had an opinion that couldn’t be deciphered. She says the board will mull it over.

Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photo/Jon Randolph.