Racial humor: not a laughing matter

Racism exists in a shrouded state at Aragon. It’s not institutionalized racism such as segregation or discrimination, but every student is likely to be able to list examples of racism that they’ve been exposed to. And at Aragon, those examples come overwhelmingly in the form of racist jokes.

While racist jokes can seem to be harmless, the term “racist joke” in itself is a contradiction—racism is not a joke, and should not be taken lightly. People who tell racist jokes attempt to justify themselves by saying, “I didn’t mean it.”

But “not meaning it” is not sufficient justification for “not being racist.” Anyone who is telling a racist joke is exhibiting bigotry. A non-racist person, by definition, does not tell racist jokes.

But the fact is racist jokes have already become a commonplace in our society and in our school. That said, no one is saying that anyone who tells a racist joke is a Klan member. Accusing someone of racism is a very serious accusation, and it begs a very legitimate question: Does telling a racist joke make someone a racist?
Racism can be represented in two ways: as a smoking habit, and as a murder conviction. One can have an occasional cigarette without being called a smoker. Contrastingly, one only has to commit murder once to be considered a murderer. Using these metaphors, racist jokes can be seen as “cigarettes,” and more racist acts like hate-crimes can be seen as “murder.”

Like cigarettes, no amount of racism is healthy. Just as one must appreciate the harmful potential of carcinogens in cigarettes, one must realize the harmful potential of racist jokes: stereotypes.

Stereotypes form the basis of every racist joke. But racism has a double standard: stating, or even alluding to, a stereotype is considered offensive—but making a joke about that same stereotype is allowable. For instance, saying “All Americans are fat” is not a joke. But saying “Only in America can a pizza get to your house faster than an ambulance” is.

This double standard has three very serious repercussions. The first most obvious effect is that it perpetuates racism. When a stereotype is made in a joke and goes uncontested, it is subtly being enforced. Whenever someone makes a racist joke, or even laughs at one, they are illustrating their consensus on the stereotype being satirized. If a person does not agree with or recognize a stereotype in a joke, they will not laugh at it. When the only response to a bigoted remark is laughter, then suddenly that stereotype becomes legitimate to its audience. An example of this is the “Asian Driver Myth.” There is absolutely no statistical evidence to suggest that Asians are bad drivers—hours of research will fail to provide one with even a single legitimate statistic to support that myth. However, the countless jokes made about Asian peoples’ driving habits have led to the legitimization of a stereotype that few people would have had believed, had that not heard about it so many times in a “humorous” setting.

The second effect is the creation of a way for actual racists to pardon themselves. When a bigoted person hears someone say something racist in the form of a joke, they see racism being exonerated. By expressing their xenophobia in the form of a joke, actual racists are protecting themselves from any accusations of racism. But it’s a weak defense; saying that racism is okay in the form of a “harmless” joke is like saying that murder is okay if committed with a “harmless” object, such as a plastic bag. And like plastic bags, racist jokes are suffocating.

The third effect of racial humor is oppression. A hypothetical situation that illustrates the oppressive nature of a racist joke is the following: A Mexican teenager is with a group of friends, when someone makes a joke about a Mexican stereotype. The teenager is offended, but the rest of his friends just laugh. Not wanting to be seen as the odd-man out in the group, the teenager forces a laugh and doesn’t say anything to challenge the stereotype. This is oppression. The social politics of a racist joke told in a group setting renders one voiceless to hateful remarks made about their ethnicity.

While some may say that opposing racist jokes is over-sensitive, racism, in any form, cannot be taken casually. Stereotyping is arguably the most dangerous phenomenon of the human condition. When left unchecked, it festers like a wound, and spreads like an infection. An example of a generalization overcoming society is the Japanese internment camps in the US during WWII. No one was willing to respect each Japanese person as an individual, and they were grouped together as a threat to the nation. This led to one of the most embarrassing blights in the nation’s history.

While no one is saying that racist jokes led, or will lead, to internment camps, our society’s unwillingness to scrutinize the generalizations made during is reflected in our ability to excuse racist jokes.

If racism is to finally cease to exist, this societal phenomenon must stop. Racist jokes and the stereotypes they project must eventually be challenge. Humor is not a valid excuse for the perpetuation of stereotypes. Racial humor must be recognized for what it really is: bigotry.