FENCES, WALLS AND A QUESTION

This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending a very moving performance of August Wilson's play Fences.  This Pulitzer Prize winning drama tells the story of Troy Maxson, an African-American former baseball player and husband and father, struggling to come to terms with the limits he encounters in his life.

The play's title is intended to be understood in a number of ways, including literally.  (Throughout most of the play Troy's wife Rose is urging him to build a fence in their yard.)  It's significance is summed up in a remark made by Bono, Troy's best friend.  "Some people," he says, "build fences to keep people out . . . and other people build fences to keep people in."

The Wilson play was written in 1985, decades before the current debate about building a wall on the southern border.  But I must say, as I have thought about that line in particular, I have been wondering whether building the border wall is about keeping out certain people, those who come from Mexico, Central America and beyond, or is it about keeping in a certain understanding of what it means to be an American?  Setting aside for the moment the question of the efficacy of a wall--will it really work as envisioned--I can't help but wonder about its philosophical implications.  Are we looking to keep people out or in?

(Note:  The Florida Repertory Company production of Fences runs through this Thursday, January 30 and tickets are still available.   Click here for information!)