Jahman Hill's "Black Enough" Is More Than Black

by Michael Harriot, Senior Writer at TheRoot.com

Nothing “transcends race.”

Let’s get that out of the way from the beginning.

There are a few things — like Stevie Wonder’s “Songs in the Key of Life,” the way Muhammad Ali punched and my aunt Phyllis’ fried chicken — that cross racial boundaries. But blackness is so wide and tall and deep that nothing on earth can ever truly transcend its vastness. However, there are occasions when the gravitational pull of a piece of art can momentarily draw the audience in and allow them to experience the edgeless vastness of what it means to be black.

Set on a sparse stage unencumbered by decoration or pretense, Jahman Hill’s “Black Enough” is difficult to describe. It is part poetry, part performance art seasoned with elements of dance, storytelling and theatre. It is even a disservice to refer to it as a “one-man show” because it is less of a presentation and more of a dissertation on the ingredients of a recipe.

Most one-man shows strive to dissect who the person is. The best of them attempt to examine the history and the background of the show’s subject. But “Black Enough” does not bog itself down in regurgitating the recipe. Instead, it is an exploration of the ingredients of that recipe.

What made the things that made you? How did those things come to be?

It is those questions that propel Black Enough.

Instead of reminiscing about the middle school dance, it ponders the dancing. It does not fear death, nor does it beckon it. It walks with the reaper and pokes at the afterlife. It is not a piece of art. It’s what the artist is trying to recreate when he closes his eyes. It’s an abstract, impressionist watercolor with high-definition details. It’s a rough draft of a memory.

The blackest thing about “Black Enough” is that it does not even juxtapose itself against or center itself in whiteness. When all of the white people die in one part of the performance, Hill does not mourn or celebrate. When an afro gives a speech (Yes, there is a talking afro), there is not even an attempt to explain the meaning of 4-C grade curls.

But most of all, “Black Enough” does not wrap itself in a gauze of pain and healing. It is joyous and funny and aspirational and human. In this production, race is an ever-present, ancillary companion that the audience can see standing just offstage waiting in the wings but who never makes its way onstage. This is not the show to attend if you are looking to learn a “very valuable lesson about race” Because blackness isn’t always a foreboding shadow waiting to teach white people about racism or the true meaning of humanity.

The show is energetic and devoid of any pretense. It does not pretend to know things. It does not attempt to preach or even teach. It is not the sermon or even the devotional part of the service. It is just the Holy Ghost shouting and the choir singing.

Black enough is not a show about race nor is it a show about a boy who “happens to be black.” It is just a thing that is.

And that is enough.

Jahman HillSeptember 18, 2018