Sarah Jones' American Dream

Despite his middle-class status and Republican values, the experiences of Mohammed Ali, a Pakistani accountant, are particularly salient in post-9/11 America. Having lived here since 1976, Mohammed retains hope in the best this country has to offer while he also seems to be living through the worst -- the state-sponsored roundup, detention, and deportation of Muslim men with no connection to terrorism. But it is his love for poetry that Mohammed uses to bring together a diverse range of immigrants to share their stories in verse.

A twenty-something Vietnamese guy who settled in the Midwest as a refugee with his family and spits lyrics critical of the exotification of Asian culture; a wealthy Haitian immigrant who recites a poem about the feelings she has for her new country despite discrimination from a real estate agent ("God bless America, but not because of you"); and a Chinese woman who comes to grips with her daughter's sexuality and ultimately stands behind her fight for same-sex marriage rights are all immigrants who present their stories in the fictional poetry reading hosted by Mohammed.

And they are all characters -- including Mohammed -- played by poet and actor Sarah Jones in her performance piece, "Waking the American Dream."

The 28-year-old African American performer made a name for herself as a star on the slam poetry scene and in two separate one-woman shows -- "Surface Transit" in which she portrays characters from all walks of life in New York City, and "Women Can't Wait," which features women from around the world addressing the United Nations about gender discrimination in their home countries. In her latest piece, Jones takes on the roles of 10 immigrants and single-handedly weaves polished and politically charged stories across generational, gender, and party lines.

As immigrant rights issues are moving to the fore of racial justice movements since 9/11, it is only fitting that politically conscious artists integrate these themes into their work. I caught up with Jones to find out what she thought about the significance of an African American artist playing immigrant characters talking about racism.

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What are some of the messages you're trying to get across in 'Waking the American Dream?'

Since the show is only an hour, there's a certain limit to the number of voices I was going to be able to deliver to an audience. The goal was to give enough time for each character, so that it's not just the snippets of a person's face and an accent that you might hear on your mainstream television.

I really wanted to show the complexity of their stories. We realized that not only did we have the September 10 issues to contend with but also the post-September 11 issues -- the really nakedly racist and ethnically focused attacks on immigrants, particularly Muslims and people of Middle Eastern descent and Arabs.

One thing that stands out is your ability to convey really complex and well-developed characters in such a short amount of time for each person.

I find that if you just stick to what's real, you can accomplish a lot more than anybody gives us credit for in the arts world or in the entertainment world. I really thought there was no way I could do this, because everyone will think they're stereotypes. If you portray people of any background, particularly traditionally marginalized groups of people, the first thing that comes to people's minds is a stereotype or making fun of an accent.

The people that I sat down with to interview, whatever their class background, whatever their experiences coming here, these people were amazing storytellers.

Those are stories that we can all benefit from as Americans, and while we're sitting around waving our flags and being so proud of our diversity, none of us actually seems to be able to tap into or have access to the real strength of that diversity.