Protest against Racial Discrimination in Tess Onwueme's Play Riot in Heaven

Abstract

Riot in Heaven projects a protest and a rejection of negative Black images and experiences of the blacks in the West. The play reveals that the Western world or race works with class to isolate most black people from mainstream life. This paper examines catalogues of humiliating experiences of the blacks in the western world. It condemns the desperation of some blacks and their acceptance of an inferiority position in the face of challenges from the Whites and projects blacks as people of strength, courage and ready to fight  for their freedom under any circumstance. It concludes that blacks, in the West should be proud of their color and insist on change as Barack Obama has proved that change is possible for the blacks who desire change. It is within this context that Onwueme's play Riot in Heaven is anchored and would be discussed in this paper.