In Ishmael Reed's great uncle’s house, the only painting on the wall was that of the Titanic. The sinking of the Titanic challenged the boasts of white supremacy. From the collective imagination of the Black streets came the “toast” of “Shine,” who warns the first-class passengers that the ship, thought to be invincible, was taking water. One might consider Shine to be the grassroots nominee for a member of the Black prophetic tradition.
Reed has lengthened the 40 or so lines of the typical Shine rap into a 100-page script in which he expands on the issues addressed in the original toast: race, class, immigration, engineering and Edwardian morality by putting Shine on trial in which he is both the accused and his own defense attorney.
