For Black History Month, here is an article explaining the brilliance behind quotes and jokes from artists willing to give the system the business on the mic.
By Taylor Drake
Dick Gregory was a comedian who exploded in the 1960s, at one point he was paid more than Frank Sinatra for live performances. Watching Black America in the middle of a bloody transition, Gregory decided to go into the world of activism. He was a harsh critic of racial injustice and was effective enough to receive word that FBI head, J Edgar Hoover, attempted to get the Chicago Mob to kill him. Dick became a man who could get his hands on sensitive documents and spread them around; he found Columbia University’s white paper report on Black American music. A manuscript used in a plot to remove live instrumentation to take over the music. His reasoning behind going so far and beyond was this,
“Black folks had listened to me when I wasn’t funny and I got so funny, they pushed me downtown where they couldn’t afford to come see me, I owe that. So I’ve always been in the phone book, I never had a bodyguard. This is my loyalty.”
Pulled from his Reel Black interview in 2015, Gregory was asked about white supremacy vs white privilege,
“White ain’t a color, most of yall ain’t never met a white person. A white person ain’t never met a white person. White is not a color, it’s an attitude. And if you don’t have trillions of dollars in the bank, you can’t have the attitude.”
This quote delves into the power structure inside white supremacy. The usual racist white person on Twitter or at your job is not at the executive level of the system. The people who attempted to overthrow the government in Vandal fashion are poor white trash living out a LARP fantasy. The entity of white supremacy will give these shamans and Qanon bloggers a slap on the wrist, of course, but the true white supremacists are the ones who can use their influence to ruin lives with a simple donation or a trade-off in the stock market. Those are the real supreme racists. A huge deterrent for Black advancement is access to capital and low generational wealth. The ruling class of white Anglo-Saxon protestants have no issues in these areas.
Katt Williams is the prime example of how a dirty south comedian can have the tenacity and likability of a clever pimp and have the common scene of a well-rounded philosopher. In a stand-up special he delves into the tactics of the modern racist with the same confrontational style that he approached with the Michale Richards scandal.
“The new racists don’t even hate all minorities, they just hate the ones they can beat. That’s why they ain’t mad at no swollen, Black nigga with dreads and shit. They ain’t fucken’ none of them up at all. It’s always some 17 year old light skin nigga that look like he just had a backpack on and got a belly full of Yoohoo and he end up dead.
I keep saying praise Jesus, let one of these racists run up on me at a gas station, bless god and tell me my music is too loud, and see if I don’t shut off music for the both of us.”
White supremacists are inherently cowardly. The past 10 years have revealed plenty of examples, mainly the use of deadly force on Black children, women, and the elderly. The case that Williams is referring to is the murder of Jordan Davis, a teen who was shot in front of a gas station for the crime of playing loud music. His killer was Michael Dunn, according to neighbors, Dunn was known for being abusive and controlling to all his wives. Like Zimmerman before him.
During the Charlottesville, Unite the Right Rally, there were plenty of instances where card-carrying white racists were caught off guard, close to getting a fair one-on-one, and backed down. While in the safety of the tiki torch-holding, beady-eyed crowd, Christopher Cantwell was proudly marching and talking about killing people. When he was confronted with the idea of going to jail and facing punishment alone, he cried like a child getting his birthday gifts taken away.
Dave Chappelle has always been an outspoken source of on code Black observation. In 2020, after the tragic murder of George Floyd, Chappelle came out with a free Netflix special titled 8:46. In this speech, he brilliantly disassembles racist tools being used to misrepresent Floyd and even pulls his own experience and lineage into this captivating story. He started to speak about Chris Dorner, the former LAPD officer who went rogue after being fired for reporting a racist incident and tried to get back into the LAPD, but their overt racism made the task impossible. He also brought up others.
“I’m tired of explaining to these people, something that’s so god damn obvious. The guy that killed those 9 cops, just like Chris Dorner before him, was from our military. And then right after he did it, another 4 cops were shot dead in Battonruge, Louisiana. Again, a Black man who served in our military. What are they doing? Why would our guys do that? Because they believe, just like they did when they were joining the fucking military, that they were fighting acts of terror.”
Black veterans have always been a reliable resource in getting the dominant society to get some act right. The war on Black society has had to meet violence with violence and don’t be fooled, these efforts have provided results. During the 1960s, contrary to popular belief, there were many incidents of Black people using force and winning. The sentiment of nicely asking for rights was not working and it lead to the police being sniped and precincts being shot up. 10 days after Doctor King’s death, 200 cities went up in flames and after that, they had to sign the Fair Housing Act into law.
Patrice O’Neal was a fearless stand-up comedian from the legendary Comedy Cellar in New York City. O’Neal’s time in the mainstream was short but he left the world an 8th wonder of the world with his special, “Elephant In The Room”. In this special the Boston-born comic rides the waves of topics with the zeal of a lifelong musician on his last concert. One of his subjects was love for animals, contrary to popular belief,
“Somehow it spread out that Black people hate animals… That’s the news doing that. Because they only show dudes who hate dogs, like when the Vic stuff was happening. ‘What do you think of Micheal Vic and the dog?’ And every dude they show is like, ‘dogs, man fuck dogs. I’ll drown a dog in a bucket right now, give me a dog, where’s a dog at? I’ll kill’em, I hate dogs, I hate dogs!’ and then they’ll show a white woman tongue kissing a dog in the mouth. Just to prove that white people love dogs. Then they’ll go back to him and he’s mad. ‘Look at this dirty white bitch!’“
Every few years, media outlets will try to make a new “Black boogie man” trend. A more recent narrative with a clear anti-Black undertone is the stop Asian hate hashtag. The inception of this tag was littered with Asian people on social media showing resentment towards the support Black people were getting during the 2020 uprising and tried to make the acts of mentally ill, homeless Black people, the face of this hatred. It also ignores the consistent racism in Asian society. Asian American jeweler Ben Baller called out the hypocrisy in a viral post.
Richard Pryor is the architect of the modern comedian. Like Dick Gregory before him, he was able to put race and the absurdity of racism on a large comedy stage. His brand of humor wielded a bit more profanity to feel relatable and add some punch. In an interview, after his short-lived sketch show came to an end, he was asked about what the suits at NBC were so afraid of. He answered, maybe, they would have stopped some racism. He further explained that comedy clears boundaries and,
“I think it’s a part of capitalism, to promote racism. In order to make things work. If you feel better because you’re white and you can get a job, you’ll use that… And that separates people. So they keep people separated and that keeps them from thinking about the real problem.”
Lyndon B. Johnson once said,
“If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.”
The global system of white supremacy is much like a form of life support or welfare. It’s the only thing keeping these, damn near, whites-only enclaves alive. If it disappeared tomorrow, a ton of white supremacists would kill themselves from not being able to compete. The idea of losing power causes them to kill themselves now, in the BBC news special “What’s Killing America’s White Men? ” They went to Montana, which is predominantly white and has the highest suicide rate in the country, double the national average. A highlighted theory from the Montanans is, white men have been in charge for a long time and now their leadership roles are starting to decline; one man said about this, “If I’m not the boss, who am I?”
The mini-documentary also linked the motive of suicide to the economic downturn of the state, these men are used to seeking meaning in their work, and without it, they have nothing. The power dynamic has failed the average white person, and their guarded isolation is literally killing them. That thin Saran Wrap of superiority disappears completely and Pryor’s idea of racism as a distraction may lead way to these people making real changes in their lives.
Paul Mooney, Richard Pryor’s right-hand man, was considered the godfather of comedy for his bold comedic style. He was so unapologetic with his pro-Black material that white people would walk out in the middle of his set. During an interview with The Reel Black Channel, he was told that a lot of their comments were filled with people calling him a racist, this was his response,
“I’m racist? Well that’s very funny. I can’t be racist by definition, look that up in the white folk’s dictionary. How can I be racist? I’ve never told anyone where to live, I’ve never told anyone what kind of jobs to have, I’ve never kept anyone out of a school or out of a restaurant or drinking from a fountain, I’ve never lynched anybody. So how can I be racist?”
Racism is systemic. The definition is damn near in the name, Race-ism; a race and an entity, a system. In this system, you need to be able to persecute and kill other races with impunity and be able to create legislation to limit or ruin lives to be racist. A Black person in this system has no tangible resources or institutions to get away with anything close to lynching a white person or discriminating against them when they want to buy property. Black racism, the closest to it, is name-calling. I can call you names and talk about doing something to you all day; the day I take action, there is a whole prison industrial complex that will make sure you never see me again. A suspected white supremacist may throw out the word, “Black Supremacy,” which is a contradiction of terms. Supreme means no higher than, only one. There cannot be two supremes. Based on the evidence, there is only white supremacy.
Corey Holcomb is a comic’s comic in every sense of the term. Chris Rock once said that he would never follow Holcomb on the mic. He also has some recognition from the mainstream, but due to his unwillingness to go along with the program, not enough. When talking about the deaths of Black people at the hands of cops and his close calls/fears of being murdered himself, he said this on his 5150 Show Podcast,
“They have done what’s necessary to create weapons and unions and things that can destroy mankind if they don’t get their way. But you’re a terrorist, they call everybody terrorists. But nothing in this world is more terrorizing than the history of caucasian people where ever you find them.”
Holcomb’s quote taps into the vast power of the white supremacist and their bleak stance on keeping power. They depend on technology to dominate people. That’s why the police now have access to tanks and robots. The contradiction of terrorization has gotten so out of control that other governments have called them out when the US tries to condemn them for hate crimes. Iran recently threatened to put sanctions on the United States for Black mistreatment. It is a historical fact that Europe is a cold and resource-deprived place. This creates the mentality that we see today, where they feel that they need to dominate one another and then other groups to maintain control.
Godfrey has been a well-respected standup and has been active since the early 90s. The Chicago comic has some recognizable roles as a working actor and was able to get a spot on the Tiffany Hadish series “They Ready” on Netflix. When discussing the entertainment world on the Hip Hop News Uncensored show, he said this about racism in the industry,
“There is that aspect of certain Black people and you see them on TV where you go, ‘Oh, I see why they hired this mother fucker, this mother fucker is safe.’ And it’s sad because you should be able to be Black and be able to work. The fact that someone is afraid of you, that’s from another race, and don’t want you to work because they have misconceptions about you, to me is some sick shit.”
The preference for safe Black acts has been a phenomenon since the birth of T.V. and movies. Bojangles and Stepin Fetchit were that for the 1930s, a harmless black dancer or comic that will say any bafoonish line they are handed. Sammy Davis Jr was accused of being safe and caught hell when being seen as the but of the Rat Pack’s racist jokes. Bill Cosby was known as the safe one for the 80s and 90s, going as far as using his status to talk down on young Black men. After Cosby’s fall from grace, Terry Crews took this torch of judgment and defended white society. A prime example would be his tone def tweet about “black supremacy” and his take on other Black people calling him a coon or a sellout.
Happy Black History Month, 2022 has been a bumpy year for its celebration. A ton of strange and embarrassing moments, one after the other. I hope this gave you some clarity. Thanks for reading.