September 8, 2016

How to Make White People Laugh


"You could identify blackness by external appearance. I fail on that count." ~ pg. 2

Girl...GIRL...you failed at so much more. This book for starters. Y'all. I couldn't even finish this book. Comedy based on race is very tricky. You have to be funny but maintain respect and not exploit stereotypes. Author Negin Farsad took a slightly different, yet annoying, approach: by constantly mentioning she "grew up feeling black."

This not only annoyed me but by the fourth reference, I took offense. How the fuck do you grow up "feeling" black? Then compare blacks to Mexicans, Muslims or Iranians. My struggle is not your struggle. Blackness is not defined by its opposition to whiteness.

So you liked Roots. So you thought A Different World was "hot." So you obtained a graduate degree in African-American Studies. So you feel "un-American." So you recognize the country is obsessed with race. So you are defined as an "other" with a hyphenated identity. This does NOT make you black. Let me say it louder for the writers/comedians in the back: THIS DOES NOT MAKE YOU BLACK.

Negin Farsad, have all the seats in the front of the bus.

Title: How to Make White People Laugh
Author: Negin Farsad
Published: May 2016
Pages: 244
Edition: Hardcover
Rating: ♡


 

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