The Official "Ask A Brotha" Thread

[charl_huntress]

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[blknrdcllctv]

I've been contemplating moving to CA. Not just for fine women, but to get away from this damn snow. I've had enough!

 

[charl_huntress]

lol...like I've said often. Not only the weather is good in CA.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

I'm opposed to racially-based humor because even if it's funny it's going put someone down. The line is too fine between laughing at someone and turning them into the butt of a joke for others to laugh at with you. I understand comedians doing this because jokes are usually based on social commentary, but outside of that it's not really appropriate. Interestingly, people always mention Chappelle as a master of this form, but the comedy itself sent the comedian on a self-reflective trip to Africa...then no more Chappelle Show.

I'm not sure it's racial comedy in general that sent Chappelle to Africa for self-reflection.

The shows quality nose dived in season three. Chappelle was painfully aware of this and the straw that broke the camel's back was the idea that satire he had perfected had become a toothless parody of itself. People were officially laughing at him and not with him. This combined with the truck of money offered to buy Chappelle's mortal soul required a spiritual retreat.

Ultimately the problem didn't lie with Chappelle's best skits but his worst and the sell out money involved.

 

[blknrdcllctv]

Have you lived out there your entire life?

I've lived in the Northeast for mine, and it's just about time to go. I would really miss my friends and the fact that five major cities are within a drive of each other. There is so much good culture here. I hate that the weather mucks it up.

 

[charl_huntress]

I'm not sure it's racial comedy in general that sent Chappelle to Africa for self-reflection.

The shows quality nose dived in season three. Chappelle was painfully aware of this and the straw that broke the camel's back was the idea that satire he had perfected had become a toothless parody of itself. People were officially laughing at him and not with him. This combined with the truck of money offered to buy Chappelle's mortal soul required a spiritual retreat.

Ultimately the problem didn't lie with Chappelle's best skits but his worst and the sell out money involved.

Yes...he no longer thought it was funny... As it is...his racial comedy may not have been the only reason, but it was ONE of the reasons.

Have you lived out there your entire life?

I've lived in the Northeast for mine, and it's just about time to go. I would really miss my friends and the fact that five major cities are within a drive of each other. There is so much good culture here. I hate that the weather mucks it up.

No, I spent a good portion of my life in the military and I've "lived" in many places in America and abroad. California is the most diverse and accepting in my opinion. Though I admit I have not spent that much time on the East coast.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

Yes...he no longer thought it was funny... As it is...his racial comedy may not have been the only reason, but it was ONE of the reasons.

It's the reaction from some whites that gets under Chappelle's skin.

In fact, he's tried to perform new material recently but walked off stage when he was heckled.

He still has plenty to say about race in America but is too frustrated with disrespectful audience members to continue.

 

[MrMaooz]

Richard Pryor, Bill Cosby, or Red Foxx?

 

[roach]

Richard Pryor, Bill Cosby, or Red Foxx?

yes

 

[Hal_Jordan]

It's the reaction from some whites that gets under Chappelle's skin.

In fact, he's tried to perform new material recently but walked off stage when he was heckled.

He still has plenty to say about race in America but is too frustrated with disrespectful audience members to continue.

That sounds lazy. Comedians constantly deal with hecklers, and if they're good, they make the hecklers leave or shut up.

I think Dave just ran out of ideas for awhile.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

That sounds lazy. Comedians constantly deal with hecklers, and if they're good, they make the hecklers leave or shut up.

I think Dave just ran out of ideas for awhile.

Well Chappelle is already a borderline hermit who avoids the limelight to live a quiet, simple existence. When he performs he's not prepping himself for the uglier side of show business. There's a reason he stays away.

and I doubt Chappelle would run dry for years. He's been a top level comedian since the early 90's. He could write a couple of great routines every year if he wanted to.

 

[terry78]

The way you can tell if you've officially sold is when your white fans start basically treating you like a Stephen Fetchit as opposed to actually respecting you. When your smart humor gets booed and your shuck and jive **** gets more attention.

 

[Hush]

I've never seen a white person repeat racially charged jokes to other whites unless it was overt racism.

A white person repeating those jokes to blacks is usually taken in stride unless the white person is annoying or suspected of holding racist beliefs.

In my past, I've seen whites repeat sets from Chappelle or Chris Rock and I was usually just glad they apprecieted the routine as much as I did.

Personally, I don't think it's okay for anyone to tell racially charged jokes, regardless of race. I don't really like comedians who do this, but at least in their case they are in a venue telling jokes. Everyone is expecting to hear jokes, offensive or otherwise. Outside of that I don't think it's appropriate.

Thanks for the observations. Some stuff to chew on.

 

[Warhammer]

I actually saw this pairing once...I stopped dead in my tracks.

Would it have been rude or unwelcome to have gone over and given them a high five or fist bump?

Yeah, I feel that only works when it's a black dude with a _____ girl.

She's beautiful inside and out.

As for the bolded, you need to move to CA. I see this often. My former neighbors were mixed and the man was Asian and the woman was black.

I've never been to CA but I did visit Seattle. The west coast does seem a little more progressive. The upper east coast (above Maryland) seems that way as well.

 

[Manic]

The mother of Tommy Chong's kids (Rae Dawn Chong [for those of you old enough to remember her], the operator from the first Matrix movie, and some other woman nobody remembers) is black, and Tommy himself is the product of a Chinese father & white mother.

Oddly enough, you don't run into many Asians who count Tommy Chong as an Asian-American. I've met some who didn't even know he was half Asian (though you'd think his last name would give them a hint). And he's probably one of the most famous male Asian-American actors of all time, right alongside George Takei and Lou Diamond Philips.

 

[chamber-music]

Society tends to class race on how people look. Whatever perceived notions of ethnic features people think others have tends to inform what racial group they belong to.

People like Samuel L Jackson and Spike Lee have white ancestry but no one is going to call those guys biracial.

Most people think Wentworth Miller, Rashida Jones and Jennifer Beals are white even though they are biracial.

 

[Lencho01]

How do you feel about some being called "Black Black"? To use chamber's examples, Jackson and Lee would be called "Black Black" but Miller, Jones, and Beals wouldn't.

 

[Pink Ranger]

Oddly enough, you don't run into many Asians who count Tommy Chong as an Asian-Canadian. I've met some who didn't even know he was half Asian (though you'd think his last name would give them a hint). And he's probably one of the most famous male Asian-American actors of all time, right alongside George Takei and Lou Diamond Philips.

Fixed, and don't you forget it!

I guess everyone figures that Tommy's smoked so much right now, he's not half Asian anymore, but half hemp.

Admittedly, Asian man + black woman is also rare in Toronto, where we have high populations of both, but one of the city's richest men (name on a museum rich) is mixed Asian-black, with Asian on his father's side.

 

[chamber-music]

I've got a Asian/Black cousin as well as Black/White cousins.

The only other non-black people you usually see black women with where I live are usually white guys or middle eastern guys.

Black women with Asian people (Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Thai, Indonesian, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Sri Lankan) is rare.

 

[Erzengel]

Think we discussed this in the Jill Scott thread, that Asian men and Black women are least successful dating outside their race. Although, I'm seen more of the former than the latter but I think it's because I associate with Filipinos who seem to get white women easier than other Asian males.

 

[Warhammer]

Society tends to class race on how people look. Whatever perceived notions of ethnic features people think others have tends to inform what racial group they belong to.

People like Samuel L Jackson and Spike Lee have white ancestry but no one is going to call those guys biracial.

Most people think Wentworth Miller, Rashida Jones and Jennifer Beals are white even though they are biracial.

That's so true. Case in point, Barack Obama. He's momma is white but nobody (particularly the racists) takes into consideration that he's just as white as he is black.

 

[charl_huntress]

Think we discussed this in the Jill Scott thread, that Asian men and Black women are least successful dating outside their race. Although, I'm seen more of the former than the latter but I think it's because I associate with Filipinos who seem to get white women easier than other Asian males.

The pairing is becoming a lot more prevalent on the West coast. We're more progressive here. My former neighbors were an Asian man and a black woman, my best friends is Black/Chinese (her mother is Chinese), another friend of mine is black and Vietnamese. Her mom is Vietnamese.

How do you feel about some being called "Black Black"? To use chamber's examples, Jackson and Lee would be called "Black Black" but Miller, Jones, and Beals wouldn't.

I have a big problem with this because it can lead to racism amongst blacks. Also "Black" has a range of colors and shades, which shouldn't be too hard to understand since not all white people look like giant blond Swedes.

I think I mentioned I'm fair skin and I don't have traditionally kinky hair, but both of my parents identify as black even though they are also fair. That's not to say we didn't have any white ancestors from the plantation days, but we are just light skin black folk. I despise when people ask me what I'm mixed with...like because my skin isn't charcoal-color I'm can't be fully black.

 

[chamber-music]

I have a big problem with this because it can lead to racism amongst blacks. Also "Black" has a range of colors and shades, which shouldn't be too hard to understand since not all white people look like giant blond Swedes.

I think I mentioned I'm fair skin and I don't have traditionally kinky hair, but both of my parents identify as black even though they are also fair. That's not to say we didn't have any white ancestors from the plantation days, but we are just light skin black folk. I despise when people ask me what I'm mixed with...like because my skin isn't charcoal-color I'm can't be fully black.

Your right.

People make silly racial comments often out of ignorance.

If people actually went around Africa they would black people who have a wide variety of skin tones, facial structures, hair texture, ect.

Ethiopians don't look like Nigerians. Kenyans don't look like people from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Black people come in all colours, shapes and sizes.

 

[E-Man]

How do you feel about some being called "Black Black"? To use chamber's examples, Jackson and Lee would be called "Black Black" but Miller, Jones, and Beals wouldn't.

There are only a few people that should be called Black Black. Wesley Snipes is one. Don Cheadle is another. Riak takes it further than that because he's Black Black Blacker Black.

*hopes that everyone YouTube's Riak*

 

[chamber-music]

Sudanese peeps are black black t: