Why I Can’t “Get a Sense of Humor” about Racist Jokes
I congratulate him on actually dealing with what he did.
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Wednesday night, the National Book Awards took place, and a multiple-New-York-Times
bestseller and hugely successful white male author of children’s books, Daniel
Handler (aka Lemony Snicket), was the host. During the course of the night, he
made several racist jokes, including bemoaning the fact that he hadn’t won a
Coretta Scott King Award (for African American children’s book writers or
children’s literature showcasing African American life–both categories together
make up less than 3% of the field), calling two African American nominees for
the award in poetry “probable cause,” and topping off his whole night of
micro-aggressions with a major watermelon joke directed at African American
writer, Jacqueline Woodson, winner of the award in children’s literature.
watermelon joke just after the 40-minute mark.
other mainstream news outlets covered the awards the next morning and
complimented Handler’s performance as emcee without ever mentioning any of these
remarks. Just as the overwhelmingly affluent white audience laughed and
applauded.
conscience were upset by Handler’s behavior at one of the most prestigious book
award ceremonies in the United States. Articles and blogs were written. Twitter
came alive over it. Finally, Handler apologized on Twitter with the usual non-apology—“my
failed attempt at humor.” People rightly asked, “In what world are these things
supposed to be funny?”
after tweet after Facebook post after blog post of “What’s the big deal?”,
“race-baiting,” “Get a sense of humor.” I’m used to them. We all are. Every time someone wealthy, famous, and white (and
usually male) says or does something racist or misogynist, the defenders come
out in force with these same comments. The comments include many that are much
worse and sometimes downright foul, but I won’t detail those here because
they’re from real trolls, while I think the comments I have listed are
sometimes, at least, from people who genuinely don’t see or understand the
racist or misogynistic content of the controversial remarks.
without success. Perhaps it will help if I spell it out this time, looking at
the watermelon joke, which caused the most uproar because Handler dragged it
out for several minutes and included Cornel West, Toni Morrison, and Barack
Obama. Woodson is a gifted young writer who has twice before been a finalist
for this ultimate award. Winning it should have been a pinnacle point for her entire
career. At that moment, this wealthy, successful, white male writer in her own specific
field (children’s literature) reminded her publicly that, no matter how much
she achieved, she would always be Other and lesser in his and everyone else’s
eyes.
and big ways every day—even if the people who say or do them are truly unaware
of the offense (and let’s be honest, they usually know quite well)—it takes a
toll on you. Then, if you object, if you try to say, “This is wrong,” others
who share the offender’s views tell you not to take it so seriously—“Get a
sense of humor.”
think it’s funny to insult and stereotype people of other backgrounds and
genders, you get a sense of humor. Learn what’s really funny and not just cruel
and embarrassing and referencing for fun traumas that have been inflicted on
whole peoples. Grow some intelligence and wit, instead of making watermelon jokes
when someone wins one of the highest awards in the American literary world.
REPLIES TO COMMENTS (because Blogger hates me):
Thanks, Pam. Aren’t you getting tired of these idiotic things, too?
Mary, when they call me ‘humorless,’ I just ask them how something like this can be called humor.
Yes, Kay, it was very belittling. And one would hope that we were further advanced than that by now. Unfortunately, not.