Why You so Black?

I started performing stand-up comedy around 2004. I had been working in corporate America for a few years and I hated everything about it. I didn't hate it because it was soooo racist (I worked in what was affectionately referred to as the "I.T. Ghetto" at a primarily black company in Brooklyn, so race wasn't a problem . . . well . . . depends on what you see as a problem), I hated it because I had always wanted a more creative outlet. When I first stepped onstage, I felt like I had come home.

Funny enough, when I stepped OFFstage, people would question me as if I just admitted to signing off on CIA kill squads that were never approved by Congress. I'd hear comments like:

"Where are you from?
"You said you're from Brooklyn. You can't be from Brooklyn."
"I've never heard a Black guy sound like that."
"Negro, you ain't Black!"

I didn't really talk about being Black onstage. I would tell amusing (or so I thought) anecdotes about my family and other vanilla (no pun intended) subjects. But my demeanor and speech pattern caused people to pause. They kept waiting for me to acknowledge that I was, IN FACT, Black and yet I wasn't falling into the acceptable Black mold.

The first joke I ever wrote to acknowledge this was: "Greetings and salutations, one and all. My name is Elon James White and I know exactly what you're thinking. You're currently looking at a large Black man and yet you don't 'HEAR' one. Some of you may be asking: 'What type of sorcery IS this?' "

And laughter ensued. The laughter wasn't because that was SO funny. They laughed because I let the audience know, that I KNOW, that I'm not the "Right Type" of Black. That put them at ease.

Since then I've taken on the concept of Black head on. I joke, I make videos, I write, I tweet. I am constantly Blacking it up. And you know what? I have moments when I look at my body of work and wonder to myself: Should I really keep tackling this "Black" thing? Should I lay off it?

Then the past 2 weeks occurred.

It started with my *cough* White girlfriend's parents acknowledging that I'm not what they want for their daughter. This was something they had decided upon hearing of my Negro coloring a long time ago, but felt the need to let it be known again Independence weekend.(Happy 4th!). Then I get 1000 tweets about the Valley Swim Club turning away a group of young Black kids because they might change the "complexion and atmosphere" of the club. Next, I sit through four days of Supreme Court judge confirmation hearings that may have been one of the most racist government-sanctioned events I've witnessed in my life. This was followed up by a segment on CNN on segregated proms, and then watching Pat Buchanan freak out about the rights of White males.

As a Black man/minority/not a White male, I find Pat Buchanan's rant outrageous. Forget the ludicrous claim that "White people built America and deserve more" because that's so idiotic and laughable it's not even worth my energy. To imply that affirmative action is somehow ridiculous is to suggest that the socioeconomic ripples of slavery and discrimination are absolutely moot. This breaks down to saying what America did to a people -- My People, mind you -- should be forgotten.That racism is now "fixed" and that any further discussion is simply bellyaching. Taking responsibility is one thing. Claiming that real issues are pure nonsense is another.

I watched Sen. Lindsey Graham and Sen. Jeff Sessions pat America on the back because of the Supreme Court's ruling on the Ricci vs. DeStefano case. White males are now getting promotions, so the American justice system should be applauded. How many minorities have been ignored? Currently there's a young man, Eric Frimpong, from Ghana sitting in prison because a White girl, who was dangerously intoxicated and can't remember what happened, claims he raped her. None of his DNA was found on her, but her White boyfriend's was. Her boyfriend has not been considered a suspect. The Black guy OBVIOUSLY did it.

That seems really justice-y.

To praise America for the firefighter case is offensive. I'm not arguing whether it was right or wrong (although John Payton of the NAACP Legal Defense fund makes some clear arguments why the case isn't so cut and dry), I'm arguing that there are more pressing issues that have gone through our system and have been ignored.

I understand that the confirmation hearings are not really confirmation hearings, but a showcase for the Republican party to clarify where they stand on the issues, but as a Black man, it struck a chord in my soul. It created an "Us vs. Them" environment. If that was the GOAL, then kudos, job well done.

So here I am. I'm Blacking it up even NOW. I have the appearance of a angry, fist-pumping, screaming, militant Negro. Please note: I am NOT an angry, fist-pumping, screaming, militant Negro. I'm not sitting here with my big afro thinking about how I'm going to take down the White man. I am an Average Black Person. I would much rather play my Xbox 360 and watch reruns of Scrubs (yes, I said it). I would much rather argue why Batman can, in fact, take down ANYBODY. I don't want to rant and rail against the system and the perceptions of Blacks: I'm FORCED to. Why? Because I'm not deaf, dumb and blind. If I had those three ailments perhaps I wouldn't be able to tell how NOT post-racial America actually is.

That's not true. I'd probably still feel it.

Follow Elon James White on Twitter: www.twitter.com/elonjames

Comments

[erykah]

Yeah dude. Best post on race i've read in a long time. Love it!

[MoxieRoxie]

I'm actually in a FB group called "If you don't like Scrubs we can't be friends"

[yournontoxiclife]

Thank you for this. I'm glad someone has the intelligence and guts to describe our current reality. I'd love to pull that Blanket of Denial over my head and get comfy, but we've got lots of work to do. Unfortunately, many still sleep with their blankies...

[DeloresT]

Thanks Elon! Great post....I'm passing this essay on to all on my list. Jeff Sessions & Lindsey Graham remind me of the racist congressmen and southern governors of the 1950's and 1960's who stood in the school house doors and who supported those who did. The GOP doesn't even pretend to really want Black members.....Mike Steele is in denial.

[JubilationLeigh]

Agree on all points. Especially about batman.

Keep up the work my fellow Average Black Person. *non-militant fist pump*

[LoreLeo]

If you were deaf, dumb, and blind, you'd get to find out how people like Buchanan, Graham, and Sessions treat disabled people. :P

[Elon James White - Huffpost Blogger]

Thats hilarious.

[joceeco]

No that's funny as h&ll!!!

[LoreLeo]

Well, good comedians write what they know. lol

[Girl28]

Thanks for saying what I was thinking while watching clips from the confirmation hearings. I was wondering if it was okay now to be so openly racist. Are those republican congress people thinking that they're out of power now so they can show their true colors, or are they just playing to their constituency? Either way it's pretty bad. You're either a bigot and have no shame about it or you're pretending to be a bigot, because you're courting the votes of bigots?

[LeBelAge]

Great post. No other writer has expressed my dismay over the Sotomayer hearings, Buchanon ranting and country club incident so well.

[Elon James White - Huffpost Blogger]

Thank you for the kind words.

[ForVivi]

My wonderful husband says that "with knowledge comes responsibility". Thank you for being a man with a conscience who's willing to put himself out there as yourself.

[suigeneris]

Well said on all counts Elon. As a fellow not-the-right-kind of black man, I salute you.

[emidesu]

I was part of the Sesame Street generation and until 2008 had thought we were almost post-racial. The reactions to the Obama campaign have been a real eye-opener, and now I am more amazed daily as the racists openly reveal themselves. On the other hand, perhaps it's good to have it out in the open so it can be confronted and defeated. Anyway, I have been disappointed in my America, especially as I watch the Sotomayor hearings and hear Sen. Miller's comment about "Gorilla glue" for Obama.

[KatieLoncke]

Thanks for this, Elon. I'm a fan of TWiB, and your Twitter hilarity. :)

As a fellow Average Black Person, what I really hope is that this week won't just rile us into denouncing racism, but also renew our commitment to opposing it.

I'm not pulling a Cosby (or an NAACP-Obama) and saying "we" need to "take responsibility" and "be better fathers," etc. I'm talking *structural* change. BESIDES affirmative action.

Like Sotomayor, my dad was a fortunate "Affirmative Action Baby" -- one of the first Blacks to cross from the New Haven projects to the university next door. But even I think the media has overplayed affirmative action and Sotomayor's "life story." Progressives appreciate her symbolism and worldly knowledge, but the fact remains, she's no Thurgood. She's moderate. Who knows how she'll rule on other dimensions of structural racism -- from felon disenfranchisement to environmental racism, prisons, public school funding, war, economic exploitation?

Once again, the tired affirmativ­e-action-v­ersus-reve­rse-discri­mination debate has come to stand for all race relations. But even if everyone celebrated Sotomayor *as* a Latin@ appointment, would that solve racism? No. Who administers justice matters less than who benefits from it, and how.

So my question is, How can this week of bigotry inspire us to confront structural racism? What kinds of good seeds for the future are we moved to sow?

Thanks again, Elon!

[schillingfan]

Cry me a river, Pat Buchanan. I heard the comments and almost lost my dinner, hearing about white white men deserved 108 of 110 supreme court justices, because they were at the Boston Tea Party or whatever.

I'm sure strict constructionists that the cons love would be hard pressed to explain to the drafters of the 14th Amendment that it was intended to protect the rights of the poor white guy who had been subjected to slavery, discrimination and justplain old animus.

Pat needs to talk to Joe Morgan about not being able to eat at the same restaurants as his white teammates in the minor leagues. They would bring him take-out back to the motel. Or Jackie Robinson about guys sliding cleats up into second base.

Poor whiny white man. Oh and I am white.

[brainypirate]

I'm a white man and I agree with almost everything you said here. I was a Repub back in the Reagan-Bush years, but I left the party when I realized their racism was rubbing off on me. I decided that I couldn't be Christian and GOP at the same time.

The only thing I disagree with? Your comment about Batman. Really? C'mon -- he's only that way because he's been over-written to the point of being unbelievable. I'll grant he's a fascinating character, and I'll even allow the writers to fashion him as one of the best heroes in the world. But just as I don't believe in American exceptionalism, I also don't believe in an Unbeatable Batman....

[Fredric Mitchell]

Well said dude. Once again.

Let it be known that we (YBPGUIDE) claim Elon as ours...even though...in reality, he was always Bartatunde's...and probably TWIB's first.

Whatever, I'm claiming the 'I knew this guy back when....' now.