Tarell Alvin McCraney, the Oscar-winning writer of Moonlight, has turned his attention to a little-known episode of queer political theatre in his off-Broadway production Ms Blakk for President. The show traces the actions of Chicago activist Terence Alan Smith, who adopted the drag persona Joan Jett Blakk and announced a run for the U.S. presidency in the early 1990s.
Background
At the height of the AIDS crisis, Smith used the campaign to draw attention to a set of provocation-driven demands and to amplify the concerns of marginalized communities. Campaign material attributed to Joan Jett Blakk carried the slogan "Lick Bush in ’92!" and advanced an unapologetically radical platform: to dismiss the White House staff and repaint the residence pink, to divert military spending toward education and healthcare, and to return land to Indigenous people "and let them take it from there."
A bold political gesture
Although the campaign did not progress through the usual political channels, the effort produced a striking public moment. Smith, attending the Democratic national convention as himself, reportedly changed into his Joan Jett Blakk persona in a Madison Square Garden bathroom and made his way onto the convention floor, creating what many regard as the first visible appearance of a Black drag queen claiming a presidential candidacy on a national stage.
Recovering underappreciated history
McCraney’s production aims to recover and contextualise this episode of queer activism, placing it within the larger struggles of the period. By dramatising Smith’s stunt and its rhetoric, the play highlights how theatricality, protest and satire intersected as tools for political expression during an era marked by crisis and marginalisation.
Legacy
The story of Joan Jett Blakk has remained relatively obscure outside activist and queer cultural circles. Ms Blakk for President brings the episode to a wider audience, prompting renewed reflection on how unconventional political acts have been used to challenge power and make demands for social change.