I enjoyed Kendi’s book as a memoir; I didn’t realize at the time I was reading scripture.
In conclusion, one of my great life regrets was not going to see Sinbad when he performed on my college campus. Just wondering what comedians Evergreen hosted (not that it’s a competition but…)
Unfortunately, I don't have a list of comics Evergreen hosted, because I was only there for my freshman year. At any rate: They wouldn't have been called "comedians", they would have been "humorous storytellers in the bard tradition".
Sinbad was a heavy hitter in the '90s -- that's not snark. I think we get distracted by the purple and yellow suits, but that guy could bring it.
My sister-in-law swears that Afros and Bellbottoms induced her labor, she was laughing so hard. Say what it will about me, but I was being earnest in stating that as a regret. Oh damn, I just remembered that I *did* attend a campus Jars of Clay concert.
I can steel-man a case here for the disparities in standup and improv being being sorta obliquely due to racism. A lot of black standup comics make jokes about race, which is arguably appealing to the majority white audience that does't want to confront racial issues directly in non-comedic ways, whereas trying to improvise racial humor all to easily leads you to being Michael Richards. A couple of problems, though; first, racial comedy is only a small part of what standup comics do, and second, my stupid theory is a way more nuanced that what Kendi has in mind so it's not a good defense of his actual position.
I'm open to all kinds of conversations about how racism might influence outcomes in ways that aren't immediately obvious. Your thought about how a Black comic (certainly not all Black comics) might try to please a majority white audience -- I have seen that happen! In many cases where a disparity exists, racism (or sexism, etc.) will be A factor. And I think it's important that we not turn a blind eye to that. Kendi makes things easy by being so absolutist: To him, racism can't just be A factor, it has to be THE ONLY factor.
I chose to take some glib swipes at improv because it's such an extreme example (something you should know: Standups and improvisers are a bit like the Army and the Navy in that you might think they'd be birds of a feather but they actually see each other as rivals). I think most people who have spent time at UCB -- which, to be fair, has produced many funny people -- have probably thought "this is an odd, odd place." And that's why I used it to illustrate the idea that in some cases, things might not be entirely a barrier to entry problem. People might just choose not to do something, and in order to equilibrate the numbers you'd actually have to negate the choices people make.
I've observed something similar in my personal life, with people who agonize over why more black people don't go to Burning Man. I'm going to ignore the low-hanging comedic fruit (because I'm not funny enough for this Substack) and give my straight answer: Burning Man appeals only to people with a very specific cultural background, who for historical reasons are overwhelmingly white. In my experience, most black people give exactly this reason when asked why they're not interested in going to Burning Man, albeit in more colloquial terms. Racism is clearly somewhere on the causal chain in this situation, but it's not close enough that there's something distinctively anti-racist we can do to fix it.
Just found this from your Oct19 link. Great stuff, first time I've seen anyone take on Kendi with the contempt he deserves.
I enjoyed Kendi’s book as a memoir; I didn’t realize at the time I was reading scripture.
In conclusion, one of my great life regrets was not going to see Sinbad when he performed on my college campus. Just wondering what comedians Evergreen hosted (not that it’s a competition but…)
Unfortunately, I don't have a list of comics Evergreen hosted, because I was only there for my freshman year. At any rate: They wouldn't have been called "comedians", they would have been "humorous storytellers in the bard tradition".
Sinbad was a heavy hitter in the '90s -- that's not snark. I think we get distracted by the purple and yellow suits, but that guy could bring it.
My sister-in-law swears that Afros and Bellbottoms induced her labor, she was laughing so hard. Say what it will about me, but I was being earnest in stating that as a regret. Oh damn, I just remembered that I *did* attend a campus Jars of Clay concert.
I can steel-man a case here for the disparities in standup and improv being being sorta obliquely due to racism. A lot of black standup comics make jokes about race, which is arguably appealing to the majority white audience that does't want to confront racial issues directly in non-comedic ways, whereas trying to improvise racial humor all to easily leads you to being Michael Richards. A couple of problems, though; first, racial comedy is only a small part of what standup comics do, and second, my stupid theory is a way more nuanced that what Kendi has in mind so it's not a good defense of his actual position.
I'm open to all kinds of conversations about how racism might influence outcomes in ways that aren't immediately obvious. Your thought about how a Black comic (certainly not all Black comics) might try to please a majority white audience -- I have seen that happen! In many cases where a disparity exists, racism (or sexism, etc.) will be A factor. And I think it's important that we not turn a blind eye to that. Kendi makes things easy by being so absolutist: To him, racism can't just be A factor, it has to be THE ONLY factor.
I chose to take some glib swipes at improv because it's such an extreme example (something you should know: Standups and improvisers are a bit like the Army and the Navy in that you might think they'd be birds of a feather but they actually see each other as rivals). I think most people who have spent time at UCB -- which, to be fair, has produced many funny people -- have probably thought "this is an odd, odd place." And that's why I used it to illustrate the idea that in some cases, things might not be entirely a barrier to entry problem. People might just choose not to do something, and in order to equilibrate the numbers you'd actually have to negate the choices people make.
I've observed something similar in my personal life, with people who agonize over why more black people don't go to Burning Man. I'm going to ignore the low-hanging comedic fruit (because I'm not funny enough for this Substack) and give my straight answer: Burning Man appeals only to people with a very specific cultural background, who for historical reasons are overwhelmingly white. In my experience, most black people give exactly this reason when asked why they're not interested in going to Burning Man, albeit in more colloquial terms. Racism is clearly somewhere on the causal chain in this situation, but it's not close enough that there's something distinctively anti-racist we can do to fix it.
God, Burning Man's a great example. I should have gone with that.