Black People Love Us!

First, we need to apologize for not having an entry last week. Stephen had child care responsibilities due to the winter break, and Charlton came down with whatever nasty bug has been going around. We hope this week makes up for being absent last Friday.

We are intrigued by a satirical website we ran across a few weeks back. It’s called “Black People Love Us,” and it’s maintained and about a (presumably) fictitious young white couple, Sally and Johnny. The site contains narratives about how happy these two are that black people like them since “lots of Black people don’t like lots of White people.” The front page and the “testimonials” page contain pictures of black folks beside quotes about how much (and for what reasons) they love Sally and Johnny. Answers range from “Johnny doesn’t smell like a wet dog when he gets rained on” to “Sally and I go out to the clubs a lot and she always says she wishes she had my natural rhythm.” The “about us” page lists all of their stereotypically white hobbies (golf, horseback riding, gardening,” while the “hanging out” and “one love” pages contain pictures of black folks partying it up with our hosts. The “stuff our friends care about” page actually has useful links to legitimate (though not all sites we’d include) pages of interest to students of black history and culture.

The most interesting part of the site, though, is the “your letters” page. Here we find comments from folks who have visited the site. These posts are ripe for critical analysis. Here’s just an example of some of these comments. First, there are a number of comments that reflect that some folks aren’t getting the satire. In fact, some of the posts are quite hostile at the perceived racial insensitivity:

“This has to be a joke. You guys are the biggest bunch of fuckin' idiots I've ever seen. White people like you are the worst kind. You know nothing about the history and don't connect with black people on a level of humanity, but rather on the basis of race. Get a book and a clue too. I'm not going to waste anymore energy on you pathetic losers!
-- A black person who doesn't think you dumb asses ‘are so cool’”

“i am black and i dont love u, so fuck ya'll”

While the comments from folks who don’t “get it” are amusing, there are many by folks who understand that it’s intended as satire, but nonetheless think it’s problematic:

“To take this as a joke, is not funny. Some people really think that you are for real. I just hope you are not people of color,doing this. Yes we all knows how racisms work is this country and AROUND THE WORLD To make fun of it,,just lets people off the hook. The way the world is today, you would think you could be a little bit more sensitive. Some group of people are tried of being the butt of jokes. Yes some white people have been given the power to say and do what they want, to anybody. I love to laugh at jokes but not if it's about making someone else feel bad or less like.”

“i dont like the fact that you make fun of a serous topic in todays society i can understand what your trying to do and it is very funny but i think its not exactly right coinsidering african americans has been picked at and abused enough i think all we need now is understanding.
-- Nicole”

These comments, and many others (too long to print here) get to a rather sophisticated understanding of the complexity of race in America. So-called “political correctness” has reduced the issue to simply being prejudiced against certain races. That ignores the systemic problems of race that are rooted in America’s history and continue through our institutions, norms and deep-seated and shared broader cultural beliefs. For that reason, the site is very important. It is true that if someone takes satire literally, he or she is walking away with a very different impression of the message. That burden falls largely on the shoulders of the satirist, but figuring out where we are collectively and individually is also useful. When Jonathan Swift suggested that the poor eat their children, no doubt some were appalled by such a horrible idea. So it is possible that this site will perpetuate racial stereotypes, but likely with folks who continue to buy into them all anyway. More often, folks will have their eyes open to the futility of believing that combating racism can happen at the individual level (by just not hating people because of the color of their skin). For instance, one writer noted:

“I'm a white male that grew up in suburbia. We only had two black children in my school. I never understood racism because I never saw evidence of the stereotypes. Although I feel that I am as non-racist as a person can be, I do appreciate your site because it helps me to understand that there are perhaps many black people who continue to suffer from such abhorent stereotypes. It also helps me to understand the attitudes of my black college roommate who seemed more prejudiced against whites than any whites against blacks that I had ever met. I think I will try to more closely scrutinize my actions and comments when I speak to my black friends to see if I subconsciously suffer from any racist based beliefs. Thank you for your satirical approach to the common annoyanced suffered by American blacks today. --Sincerely, An articulate white man with a few articulate black friends. :-)”

That’s a result that we often can’t get after an entire course at the college level! That’s usually because of the mindset of many of today’s young students, which is nicely epitomized by this note:

“Hey guys, I see the satire and irony in your site, but feel the whole theme is really ‘last year’. Is race still an issue? I thought as a nation, we were over that shit.
--‘Surfdaddy’”

We hope Surfdaddy is joking, too, but it’s tough to tell for sure. He could be poking fun at folks who really think this by noting that it’s so “last year,” but he also could be serious – many of our students (white and non-white) agree with these statements. So while we appreciate the site for its creativity, sophistication and purpose-driven humor, we, too, worry that if it’s misinterpreted by those who need to understand it the most, its power will be minimal.