Michelle T. Johnson
Contributor
Michelle T. Johnson, a Kansas City, Kansas native, worked with KCPT as the playwright for StoryWorks KC’s theater production of “Justice in the Embers,” and brings nine years of experience as a previous columnist for The Kansas City Star.
Stories by Michelle T. Johnson
KC Vet Recalls Discrimination in Vietnam
Thomas “Buck” Jenkins doesn’t like to talk much about his year of Army duty in the Vietnam War — a time in his life with too many bad memories from too many bad experiences. Like many, Jenkins returned home to people who criticized his service, yet had never walked five steps in his shoes as…
The Fatigue of Discomfort
Unless you often enter a space where you need to do an instinctive assessment of your environment based on race, you may not get why I’m so tired. This past weekend, between errands in another part of town, I spent a couple of hours knitting in a coffee shop. It was a hopping place. But…
It’s Time to Rebrand the Block
Not to get remotely biblical, but for me, it all started with a rib bone. OK, there was more than one rib — a couple of side dishes might have been involved, too. That’s how I discovered my new favorite block near downtown Kansas City, Kansas: Fifth and Central Avenue in Wyandotte County. Before the…
Let’s Put a Priority on Doing Good Work
Society does a real number on us regarding what the “important” professions are in the world. As with many beliefs we are indoctrinated with, they’re not always true. That’s why when I look at the budget threat to the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s theater department, including the potential cut of four more faculty members, I…
Protecting the Playwright Preserves Our Truth
Edward Albee and Shonda Rhimes. Funny how the twain can meet. The other night, a tornado watch interrupted the season finale of the TV show “Scandal.” That lead to a protracted ripple of conversation among my friends regarding the intense monologue by a character in that episode on the state of being a black woman…
The Entitlement We’re All Given
This week a White Privilege Conference comes to town. Although I’m sure it will be very instructive for many people, I won’t be going. Not because I’m against the conference in theory; I’m just incredibly self-protective these days about certain conversations. See, I’m as sick of hearing about white privilege as many white people are. Actually, it’s…
How Our Grocery Stores Connect to the Great Health Care Debate
When my grandmother was alive we had a running joke that if she wanted something from the grocery store she had to give me plenty of notice so that I could get it from a store near me, not the one close to her. My grandmother is gone, that store is closed, and I now…
Flexing Our Communal Protest Muscles
In our own way, America is at war. It may seem dramatic to say, but it’s the truth. Not against a foreign enemy. Not with guns and tanks and nukes. We’re at war with our fellow Americans, with our sense of communal normalcy. Right now the weapon is everything we can lay hands on —…
This Inauguration Will Have no Hive Mind
Resistance is futile, according to the Borg from the late, great television show “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” The Borg, a group of aliens who wanted to assimilate every being they encountered, aimed to create a hive mind, telling those who fought back, “resistance is futile.” And that, boys and girls, is the incomparable beauty…
Let’s Not Quiet the Conversation
Sexual harassment isn’t something that just happens in Hollywood, in the halls of Congress, and major television networks. It happens close to home, no matter where home is. This past week, a local actress friend posted about a Kansas City theater writer/producer who harassed her by private Facebook messages. She posted screenshots of his…