In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, UNMC and NHS will host a
special production of “The Meeting,” a fictional portrayal of an encounter
between Dr. King and Malcolm X, the renowned African-American leader considered
to be Dr. King’s political counterpoint.
The play will be Monday, Jan. 21, from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Lower
Storz of NHS Clarkson Hospital, 42nd and Dewey Sts. The program is free
and open to the public. Free sack lunches will be available for the first
200 attendees.
The play will begin after welcoming remarks by University of Nebraska
Medical Center Chancellor Harold M. Maurer, M.D., and Nebraska Health System
President and CEO Glenn Fosdick.
While “The Meeting” is fictional, Dr. King and Malcolm X actually crossed
paths in 1964 in New York City while traveling to speaking engagements.
Although the encounter took less than a minute, the press clamored for
a photograph. The resulting picture, displayed on campus posters promoting
the play, is the only existing photo of the two. The photo also provided
decades of speculation as to what might have happened if the two leaders
had had an opportunity to sit down and talk. It was such talk that inspired
dramatist Jeff Stetson to write “The Meeting.”
In 1996, the University of Nebraska at Omaha department of dramatic
arts began consciously attracting more plays written by and about people
of color. Doug Paterson, professor of dramatic arts at UNO, and Vincent
L. Alston, a local actor, urged UNO to sponsor Stetson’s play. With Paterson
directing, Alston as Malcolm X, Arthur Phillips as Dr. King, and D. Kevin
Williams as Malcolm X’s bodyguard, Raashan, “The Meeting” takes place in
a hotel room in Harlem one day after the bombing of Malcolm X’s home and
less than a week before his assassination on Feb. 21,1965.
The play features an intense, passionate and sometimes volatile exchange
between Dr. King and Malcolm X, two of the great historical icons of the
20th century. The dialogue is thought-provoking, humorous and touches the
humanity of the characters in a way that shatters the audiences perceptions.
“The Meeting” gives future generations a gift that could only come through
dramatic license because, through indelible media images, no two men would
seem to have been more different. Dr. King was a prodigy of the black social
elite classes, university educated, an heir to a long line of great Baptist
ministers and a man whose name, along with Mohandas Gandhi, is synonymous
with non-violence political resistance.
Malcolm X, a product of childhood poverty and racism, grew up to be
a pimp and drug dealer who eventually spent seven years in prison before
converting to the Islamic faith. His philosophy of self-defense branded
him the very antithesis of Dr. King. Yet, Malcolm X’s evolution as a religious
leader, for example, would prove to be just as authentic as Dr. Kings.
In fact, few people realize that Malcolm X was the first native-born American
citizen to convert to Islam and be admitted to the Hajj, the annual Holy
Pilgrimage to Mecca.
“The Meeting” is a fast-paced, entertaining and enlightening journey
into the humanity of two American icons. The play is a fitting tribute
to both men because it gives the audience an opportunity to remember them,
not just for their respective ideas and visions, but also as human beings,
fathers, husbands and vulnerable men who suffered from a celebrity status
they never wanted.
For more information about the Martin Luther King Day presentation of
“The Meeting”, contact Employee Diversity Network co-chairpersons Linda
Cunningham at 559-2156 or Mike Browne at 552-3342.