Racism has been in the news more than usual lately, as white supremacists organize marches in cities across the country and crowds of counter-protesters show up to oppose them. But there are a whole lot of folks entirely unsurprised at the white supremacist undercurrent in this country, because they’ve had to deal with it all their lives.
The new play by Oakland’s Lower Bottom Playaz, “Beyond the Bars: Growing Home,” points a spotlight on one longstanding aspect of institutional racism — the high incarceration rates of African-American men in this country. As the play points out, one in three black men becomes involved with the criminal justice system in the United States, and there are more African-American men incarcerated now than there were enslaved in 1850.
As one character in the play puts it, “The prisons replaced the plantations.” As another says, more forcefully still, “When have we ever been free?”
“Beyond the Bars” was written by Playaz founding director Ayodele Nzinga (who also directs and performs in the play) in collaboration with the formerly incarcerated, coming out of a series of story circles in which people shared their experiences. The play takes the form of a similar sort of circle — a support group for former prisoners to check in about how they’re doing.
They hardly ever mention any details about what’s going on in their lives, just generally how they’re feeling today, often using affirmations they seem to have learned to keep them on track. Bronche TaySon plays a gently upbeat moderator who never pushes but simply makes space for people to share.
In fact, pretty much everyone tries to keep things positive, from a young self-described freedom fighter (amiable Joshua Weary) to an old veteran of the criminal justice system who’s never going back again (smooth and stylishly dressed Edward Jackson Jr.). There’s a sense of camaraderie between all of them — the young man haunted by a revenge killing (open and forthright DeJon Grant), the philosophical old-timer (serene Reginald Wilkins), the diffident young man just trying to keep off drugs (quiet and unassuming Edward Jackson III).
The play gives you a good sense of where that sense of community comes from. It’s split into four scenes, each of them a different meeting. We watch them all file in together, grab folding chairs and sit in the same places each time, giving a sense of a familiar ritual.
A couple of new presences shake up the familiar ritual. One is a skeptical new addition to the group (sullen Stanley Hunt), a young man who doesn’t want to be there and thinks it’s all feel-good nonsense that doesn’t reflect the reality on the street. The other is more complicated. Nzinga portrays a researcher who sits in as a guest, solemnly asking provocative, metaphor-heavy questions that shake the group members out of their relentless optimism to face how bleak their prospects really are. Initially she says she wants to help them come home and stay home, but ultimately she seems to be working out some inner demons of her own.
There are moments when she and others rattle off sobering statistics, and a there couple of poetic monologues between the first few scenes, but for the most part the story stays grounded in the simple repetition of these meetings and this group of people conscientiously trying to get by and stay out of trouble as best they can.
Nzinga’s effectively no-frills staging is bracketed by two stirring music videos by Oakland hip-hop artist, filling up the blank back wall of the set. An unconventional way to open and close a play, these musical interludes provide a crucial bit of uplift coming out of a thought-provoking look at an intensely vexing topic.
Contact Sam Hurwitt at shurwitt@gmail.com, and follow him at Twitter.com/shurwitt.

‘BEYOND THE BARS: GROWING HOME’

By Ayodele Nzinga in collaboration with the formerly incarcerated, presented by the Lower Bottom Playaz
Through: Sep. 3
Where: The Flight Deck, 1540 Broadway, Oakland
Running time: 85 minutes, no intermission
Tickets: $20-$45; www.lowerbottomplayaz.com