Chronicle: A Dave Chappelle Moment

You’ve probably heard of the infamous “burning out” of Dave Chappelle after his success on Comedy Central. When interviewed by Oprah he gave a bit of context to why he so abruptly walked away form the million dollar contracts.

One particular sketch still disturbs Dave today. The skit was about a pixie (played by Dave) who appeared in black face, which Dave describes as the “visual personification of the n-word.”

“There was a good-spirited intention behind it,” Dave says. “So then when I’m on the set, and we’re finally taping the sketch, somebody on the set [who] was white laughed in such a way—I know the difference of people laughing with me and people laughing at me—and it was the first time I had ever gotten a laugh that I was uncomfortable with. Not just uncomfortable, but like, should I fire this person?”

Cite: Oprah.com

This past weekend, I went to see the movie “Chronicle” with my wife. At the beginning, already annoyed by the heavily teen audience with their texting, giggling and talking as the movie started. The movie is about 3 guys who stumble upon some mysterious object, and obtain special powers. It’s very honest in that they don’t try and be super hero’s. They’re just teens, messing around and having fun, until someone ultimately goes to the dark side.

Well, before that happens a scene plays out that I’ve seen in the trailer for months. The black kid in the trio moves a woman’s car with telekenis across a parking lot. When the woman returns to find her car missing he says “It really was the black guy this time.” When I saw it on the trailer, I laughed. When I saw it in the movie, I laughed. But these kids… 99 percent of which are suburban white kids, in a town with less than 4% poverty and a median household income of over $175K… COULD. NOT. STOP. LAUGHING.

As my wife and I chuckled, the humor faded when we realized the intensity with which the audience found it funny. I thought to myself, “ok… yeah, your laughing too fucking hard.” That’s a Dave Chappelle moment, when you realize as a minority people are laughing AT you, and not WITH you.

In our never ending reach for a post racial society, minorities wether it be racial, gender or otherwise based tend to poke fun at the elephant in the room. It’s natural. The goal, to laugh at the stereotype. Mark it as stupid and not worth serious thought. But occasionally that attempt to poke fun backfires, and one has to reevaluate.