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your sense of humanity?

My friend “Bill” never
says anything racist but he
comes damn close. I don’t want
to encourage him but I can’t
stop laughing long enough to
tell him to stop. It’s hard to
muster up moral indignation
when you’re gasping for air.

Like the last story he
told. He said when he was
growing up his aunt once heard
strange noises on top of the
house. “She calls me up,” he
said, “and yells ‘Call the cops,
there’s niggers on the roofl’”

I asked him how his aunt knew
the robbers were black and he

    alvear  

hat do you do when
‘   your sense of humor
smacks up against

 

laugh at racist stories."
Silence.
“What does that say

about the rest of the world?”
More silence.

I was expecting an intellectual

‘argument about racism and

political correctness. I was
expecting anger maybe, but not
this. Not this, this  sadness.

I felt terrible; I had hurt
a good friend.

“Would you have
laughed,” he asked, “if I were
in the room?” No, I admitted. I
probably wouldn’t have. 0
‘‘You’re an enigma,” he later
said to me. “I don’t understand
how you can have such jagged
views about race.”

I know there are lots of

It’s hard to muster up
moral indignation when
you’re gasping for air.

said, “What robbers? It was a
broken weather vane banging
againstthe roof during a wind-
storm. She just assumed she
was getting robbed and that it
was black people doing the rob-
bing.”

It’s easy to censure his
aunt, who was clearly bigoted.
But is Bill’s recounting the
story racist? He tells it with a
certain amount of glee.

And what about my L
laughter at hearing it? Does that
make me racist?

I told Greg, a close
African-American friend, about
it. Did he think the recounting
of the story was bigoted?

I don’t think l’ve ever
seen such a sad look on his
face.

“You know what really
depresses me?” he asked. “That
you’re one of the good guys,

you really are. And yet you still

people ~ Greg among them —
who think whenever a member
of the majority makes fun of a
minority it’s inherently prejudi-
cial.

But is it?

I don’t think it’s always
homophobic when straight peo-
ple make fun of gay people and
I don’t think it’s always racist
when white people make fun of
African—Americans.

Robin Williams and
Eddie Murphy are living exam-
ples of that. Whenever Robin
Williams makes fun of gay peo-

ple he is genuinely funny, with-

out being divisive or hateful.
We have been the target of
some of his funniest work.

Eddie Murphy makes
fun of gay people too, and yet
there is an unmistakable stench
of homophobia to his humor.
He’s mean and he drips cruelty
when he talks about us.

To Laugh or Not to Laugh

“BULLSHlT."

It’s Greg interrupting
me. “Comedians don’t hide," he
said. “The fact that theirjokes
are so unabashedly public insu-
lates them from charges of
racism. But your friend, he
hides. You know how I know?“

‘'How?‘‘ I asked.

"Because you haven’t
told me who he is."

Shit. I thought. He’s
right. And I won’t tell him,
either, because he knows him.

Greg is right in so
many ways and yet ljust can’t
abide by the consequence of
regulating speech that might be
offensive to some people.

Silence or glorification
should not be the only accept-
able speech the majority can
make about a minority.

Context and intent have
to be taken into consideration
when you’re deciding whether
something’s racist or homopho-
bic. Otherwise, you end up like
those insufferably sanctimo—
nious schoolmarms at GLAAD.

Last week they took
time off from the real battle
against homophobia to censure.
an Atlanta disc jockey for jok-
ing that the new gay cable net-
work should put on a sitcom
called “Leave it, it’s Beaver.”

That’s a homophobic
remark worthy of censure?
Please. These hand wringing,
humorless gay activists have
way too much time on their
hands.

Yes, taking context and
intent into consideration might
give some racists and homo-
phobes a new way to display
their prejudices. By pretending
their intention wasn’t bigoted —
that it was just a joke — they can
spout off hateful things with
impunity.

But I still think that’s
better than the alternative: The
prohibition of laughing at the
truly funny. Does bei_ng com-
mitted to civil rights require us
to give up our sense of humor?

Greg just shook his
head sadly as we settled into a
restaurant. He opened the menu
and said, “You’ve let your
friend sell you his racist shit
through laughter. Every time
you laugh you prove to him it’s
acceptable to say racist things
as long as they’re ‘funny.’”

“And just for that," he
said, ‘‘I’m having‘ the steak and
you’re paying for it.” V

l

Michael Alvear lives with Zoey
& Zack, his lesbian Labrador
and girlie-boy Vzzsla. He can be
reached at
michaelalvear@media0nc.net

44