My friend told me a joke one day. He said, "What's the difference between a Black man and a park bench?" I immediately cringed at the thought of this punchline. When I didn't respond he said, "A park bench can support a family!" This was immediately followed by laughter. How many of you laughed at this joke or another racial joke directed at Black men? I can admit, that yes, even I found a little hilarity in it. Now let me add here that my friend is not in the "majority," nor is he a priviliged "minority," he is a Black man who, in his life, has experienced MUCH prejudice and felt the direct effects of racism. Then why is he spewing a racial joke directed at his very race and gender?
Yesterday, I was talking to another friend of mine, another young Black man. I asked him if he has ever been told a racist joke just for the fun of it. We talked about this park bench joke in particular, which he found pretty funny. I was offended for him. He did not agree with my argument that these kinds of jokes are just an example of the stereotypes that exist in our society and are in fact perpetuated and enforced by jokes like this one. He in short saw no harm in it. As I tried to explain to him, tried to make him see how just one seemingly innocent joke said by someone else could effect hundreds, I felt defeated. I was not going to change his mind and I know there are thousands maybe millions of people who feel the same way, that one little joke does not effect anything.
At 8 years-old I heard my first racist joke against my ethnicity. It compared Puerto Ricans to skunks. I was surrounded by a bunch of laughing white kids, in Sunday school no less, and all I wanted to do was dissapear. These kids did not even know that I was Puerto Rican (how often does that come up in a third graders conversation?) and, in my embarassment, I could not even stand up and defend my race. That joke had a lasting effect on me, enough that I could rewrite it verbatim 17 years later if I wanted to. All I can think about is how that park bench joke can effect an 8 year-old Black boy, or even an 18 year-old Black man.
It does have an effect. If it didn't how could we hear it doday? I can put all my money on the fact that it was not a Black man who created this joke. He does not sit around thinking of ways to degrade his race. If the joke was told in an all white setting, and everyone was laughing it up, does it then have an effect? This joke falling on white or any races ears, justifies their prejudism. It gives them confirmation of what some of them believe is undeniably true, that Black men are not worth anything and cannot even provide for a family. I'm not the first person to think of this. Dave Chapelle created programming, not to degrade his race but to shine light on what is so wrong about how society looks at Blacks and minorities. It was, in some respects, a satire of racial stereotypes. How many people saw it that way and how many people laughed at his skits because the material rang true to their beliefs and stereotypes? What if a racist person were watching and thought, here is a Black man who is showing Black people as pimps, hoes, and gangsters, that's how I look at it. It was no secret that Dave Chapelle quit after a white crew member laughed "a little too hard" at one of his jokes. Using language comes with great responsibility, and he knew that.
It is no accident that the most common racist jokes against white people is that white men have "small dicks" or involve a white person "acting Black." Why is it that a white suburbanite acting urban is considered funny? Our society deems it ludicrous for a white person to want to engage in Black culture. In high school a Black classmate was derided mercilessly for not acting his race, or I should say what others decided was "acting Black". This is the satire against white people? This is the worst "joke"? Tell me if you think this is funny, What's the difference between a white man and a park bench...? A park bench can support a family!
Are you laughing? If not, look me in the face and try to tell me that a racist joke effects no one.
posted by Wide Eyed @ 4:56 PM
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