#82. Jokes at Their Expense

Black people are an extremely proud race of people. They look at each other with solidarity and have an intense structural endogamy that helps to create an intense brotherhood, which helps them traverse the polluted waters of American race relations in post-Obama America. Take for instance the recent decision to welcome the whitened Michael Jackson back into the tent of Blackness and universal brotherhood, most eloquently defined by Jamie Foxx at the BET awards:

"We want to celebrate this black man - he belongs to us - and we shared him with everybody else....It don't matter what he looked like ... what his nose looked like ... it was what he sounded like,....Who was the best?" [the audience]"Michael!"

Regardless of how strange or bizarre Black people might behave, the principle of Black unity will always outweigh the criminal wrongdoing of an individual Black person, when the sanctity of the race is at stake.

Take for instance OJ Simpson, a man who most people believe brutally murdered two people and subsequently was acquitted of any wrong-doing. After the acquittal, Black people were filmed celebrating this monsters release back into the world. Why? Because Black people believe in solidarity and will never waver from a racial cohesion. Black racial pride is almost an oxymoron (this principle will be explored in a later post).

Keeping this principle in mind, Black people take great offense at the slightest joke at their expense and view an attack on one as an attack on all Black people. Any joke or mention of an obvious stereotype around a Black person, and you will soon be in the cross-hairs of all Black people.

Even some Black comedians get in trouble with other Black people. Take Chris Rock for instance, a popular comic with both white and Black people. His famous niggas vs. Black people skit makes all Black people cringe, despite the fact that he is lampooning a significant segment of the Black population (see Black KKK article in Playboy). Rock states:

"You think I've got 3 guns in my house 'cause the media outside? When I go to the money machine tonight, alright, I ain't looking over my back for the media: I'm looking for niggas!"

Even Bill Cosby got in trouble with the Black community for daring to point out the obvious, when it came to the ssubstandard levels of fatherhood and utter thugdom that was and is being practiced in the Black community. He wasn't even joking, but was discussing facts, which Black people like to call "hate facts", because they disparage the Black community.

Black people, being a proud race that is resentful of any outside criticism - especially from white people - will protest any joke that is told about them as racist and intolerant. Racial humor, which is allowed and encouraged by Black people from Richard Pryor to Dave Chappelle, is a major no-no when conducted by white people towards any allegedly oppressed people, because it is a continuation of cultural imperialism.

Take for instance the epitome of white people - in Hollywood's eye - Michael Scott of the TV show The Office. In an early episode he gets in trouble for performing the Chris Rock skit:

Kevin: Basically, there are two types of black people. And black people are actually more racist, because they hate the other type of black people. See, every time the one type wants to have a good time, then the other type comes in and makes a real mess...

Michael: (unable to remain sitting and quiet) I'm, okay, I'm, I'm sorry, (looks at Mr. Brown) I'm sorry, he's ruin.., he's butchering it. I, I'm, could you just let me, every time, (starts impression) EVERY TIME BLACK PEOPLE WANNA HAVE A GOOD TIME, SOME IDIOT ASS...(BLEEP)

Mr. Brown: Whoa, whoa, whoa now.

Michael: I TAKE CARE OF MY KID! (BLEEP)

Mr. Brown: Wait, wait, wait a second, you don't need to go there. Okay? Please stop it, stop it, stop it, please stop...

Michael: THEY ALWAYS WANT CREDIT FOR SOMETHING THEY SUPPOSED TO DO.

Mr. Brown: STOP IT!!!!

Jokes about anything that would resemble a negative stereotype of Black people is forbidden by anyone, even by someone in the Black community. Take for instance the horrible thought Black people can't swim. The CDC reports that:

"The Centers for Disease Control lists blacks as an at-risk group for drowning. A CDC study found that blacks drown at a rate 1.25 times higher than whites. Black children between the ages of five and 19 drown at a rate 2.3 times higher than white children in the same age bracket do."

Despite facts that back up "jokes" and create stereotypes in the first place, Black people find any attack on one, an attack on them all. Black people are extremely monolithic in thought and the best advice when dealing with Black people is to refrain from any type of jocular speech, which can be misconstrued as hate, when you are in their company. Stuff Black People Don't Like will always include jokes at their expense.