Lets think about this for a second: what's humor in the first place, what makes something funny? To me the funniest things are usually commentary on blatantly obvious facts or truths, a pleasant deviation from the expected, or just the plain absurd. What's racial humor? It's humor based around the norms and association of race. Sometimes, racial humor manages to do all three things I listed above. Now lets watch this little video I came across.
See more funny videos at CollegeHumor
Commentary? On the perceived and existing stereotypes typically associated with black American males.
Deviation from the expected? Once the stereotype is established, the black men end up going to a farmer's market to spend their day.
Absurdity? The mere fact that black males decide to "just go out and be black guys."
That's all three bases covered. I laughed. Does that make me a racist? I don't think so.
Here's how I feel about racial humor: it's all about context. If I make a joke with the intent to humiliate someone, that's a racist act. If I make a joke to do one of the three things I mentioned above, it's just a joke. What if I offend inadvertently? Well that's a risk I have to take for the sake of humor. In the end, it's best to use what you believe is common sense. I believe most people have that.
Racial humor done right is one way to acknowledge racial differences in a non ignorant manner. Issues involving race in this country (mostly racism, discrimination and stereotyping) is a matter of ignorance. Humor is rarely to be taken seriously. Racial humor is a safe way to educate and discussion issues of race since it's not meant to be inflammatory. You see what that video above did right there? It pretty much showed that even black people realize that there's a perception of what a "black guy" does and the correlation between actual blacks and the "black guy" image is loose. It educates through humor. That's good racial humor in my opinion.
Not a racist,
Greg
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