Lines

My favorite movie when I was younger was "Save the Last Dance". This was such a different movie at the time because it put a white girl in a black situation, where it use to always be the opposite. Putting a black youth in a white school or town. It almost seems more dangerous to put the white girl in this situation, maybe that's why it's always been the other way around. Making the black youth fit in to this white society, kind of the way black people are expected to meld into white America instead of just having them belong. Maybe this is a wrong way to look at the world, but it's hard for me to not look at the world this way. If you're black, you're different.

The reason I thought of this was because of the movie "Guess Who" which stars Bernie Mac and Ashton Kutcher. In this movie, Bernie's daughter brings home the "white boy". It's not as scary as going into a whole school, but the situation is scary because it's a big deal to fit in. Ashton has to find a way to fit into this girl's family because he is going to spend the rest of his life with her. At first, Bernie does not like Ashton and it seems like it is simply because he is white.

My favorite scene in the movie is when they are all sitting at the dinner table and Ashton mentions black jokes. Bernie dares him to tell some of these jokes, so after some prodding Ashton does so. Everyone is laughing because the jokes are cute, innocent and funny. The last joke Ashton tells is, "What are three things a black man can't get?" "A black eye", to which people laugh, "A fat lip... and a job" At this last one everyone gets angry. Ashton's girlfriend's grandfather actually wanted to beat him. Where he crossed the line? An awful truth? Maybe that last one wasn't funny because it's something that really happens? They shouldn't have gotten upset because they made him tell the jokes and clearly he's not racist; he does have a black girlfriend. But where is the line? And do we often cross it? Someone told an awfully racist joke in front of me once and I was mortified because the person told it like it was a funny joke, and it was not funny. It was about lynching Obama... how is that funny? It wasn't okay and he was oblivious to that fact. Would that joke have been okay had he not said it in front of a black girl?

But, anyway. I think this was a good representation of the awkwardness that can happen between people of different races. Ashton meant well, and not all people do, but this awkwardness needs to subside in order for things to get better, at least that's what I think. Things only become more comfortable with open communication.

Black people are Funny

Someone said that God knew black people were gunna have to go through a lot of shit so he gave them a lifetime of cool. So, I guess that's why black people are funny. Right? All black people. At least, that's what someone in another country would think based on American TV. Oh yeah, and black people are loud. Loud and funny.

Bill Cosby (The Cosby Show), Will Smith (Fresh Prince), The Wayans Brothers (My Wife and Kids and all their other projects), Donald Faison (Turk from Scrubs), Chris Rock (Everybody Love Chris), and the list goes on. All of these men portray funny characters. Are all black people funny? No, most definitely not. But these forms of media focus on the comedy, and they have since the beginning. Sometimes the comedy comes from stereotypes. There really aren't TV shows which feature an all black cast, or that feature a black character as the main character, that aren't comedies.

I love these shows, and when I watch them I don't sit there and think... Well, this is ridiculous. What black family really has one parent who is a doctor and the other who is a lawyer... And I don't think... I can't believe that this show, My Wife and Kids, is portraying black women as being loud, obnoxious and too opinionated. I sit there, watch and laugh. I don't know how to remedy these issues. I think I would rather see people of different races all over the TV then have them not be there at all.

The N* Word

Now, how does it look when black people diss other black people? It's funny, white people don't know if they should laugh and black people laugh because they see the truth in it. I think Chris Rock is brilliant. Explicit, but brilliant. There are a lot of comics who I think are so smart, and in so many cases in order to be heard you have to fly in under the radar. No one wants to hear this "shit"; but if it comes in a funny package we will listen. Race is not an easy thing to talk about, it's dirty, vague and no one knows where to start. Chris Rock says something like, "I hate niggers," but what he really hates is the people who take advantage of the system, and he is attacking a view of the black population. He makes a distinction between black people and niggers, black people are just human beings, trying to make a decent living and make a better future for themselves and niggers are the people who fulfill this stereotype of the "typical black male," broke, deadbeat, and dumb. Rock is using humor to point out that this is a stereotype brewed from a media enriched society. We often don't see the black man working two jobs to support his family, we see the "nigger" stealing shit from the local convenience store. What's there to love about that?

As a black female I don't want people to assume that I am going to be pregnant before I'm married, on drugs and taking advantage of welfare. I also don't want people to think I'm going to steal stuff from a clothing store. (I actually cringe as I walk through detectors because although I have never stolen anything in my life I am always certain those dumb things are going to go off.) Stereotypes don't know minds or people and that's what makes them deadly. Dave Chappelle talks about stereotypes as well in his stand-up. He goes into a restaurant and the waiter assumes he wants fried chicken. This is simple enough and even a little funny, but it's a stereotype. Chappelle makes light of the situation because it's a silly thing, chicken, but it's not always that innocent. He is a young black man, and the assumption he wanted chicken could easily be the assumption that he's planning on robbing the place or going out back to sell drugs.


Chris Rock on Black People: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7b2oCYgfik
Dave Chappelle on Chicken: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ4B7G8Rw3Q