The valiant efforts of activists over the years have taken many forms: marches, demonstrations, protests, sit-ins, riots, speeches, and boycotts. The efforts of activists have increased by nearly 60% since 2014 alone (Pecorin) and are expected to show drastic increases by the conclusion of 2017. One cannot review the efforts of anti-racism activists in the past decade without remarking on the progress they’ve made. So, it’s true that progressivists have succeeded in gaining massive support throughout the past few years as shown by: the Women’s March, Black Lives Matter, and the ANTIFA. Since the Charlottesville white-supremacist clash with ANTIFA protestors, ANTIFA alone has gained two thousand new, subscribed members (Cammeron) and activists to support their cause. Regardless of one’s personal opinions on the ANTIFA movement, the program’s growth is largely representative of many left-wing groups’ rise in popularity. In relation to the statistically great increases in membership to said groups, this paper has been written to propose an alternate idea to enact social change through a new venue, with new ideas, and with a hopefully more effective outcome. I, as an honest writer, am not going to attempt to discredit the work of past social movements, but instead I will claim that the current pace to uprooting racism in America isn’t effective enough in relation to the pace that prejudices are gaining strength through: the reestablishment of the KKK, the formation of various white’s supremacists groups, and the growing global fear of Islamic culture. While I am an optimist, I cannot deny the fact that white-supremacist groups “[have] risen [in membership] 17% since 2014, to 917 organizations” (Cammeron) which is an unfortunate response to the increase in left-wing activists. I contend that the use of racial humor may be supplemental to shortcomings of other demonstrative tactics employed to end social prejudices. 

Comedy is a unique aspect of society that has traditionally been used solely for entertainment purposes. Very few aspects of human society have the power to transcend social, economic, and cultural barriers like comedy. Whether it be standup, scripted, or just a typical joke, comedy has the power to unite an audience of varying backgrounds. Famous rhetors have made millions a year by writing, choreographing, and performing skits that range in subjects from politics to puppies. In theory, the purpose of comedy is to entertain, but in a proper setting comedy has a particularly interesting byproduct: generating unity amongst a crowd. Strangers sitting next to each other leave as friends after hours of communal laughter. Newfound friends can share that similar experience as a memory for life in the form of a skit or joke, and be that much closer together as a result. Though there is a surplus of logical reasoning as to why racial humor should not be used in comedy, the need for a new, innovative medium to ignite social change at a faster pace calls for the introduction of racial humor to American rhetors’ work in a proper, wholesome fashion.

One must be able to first recognize the effects that racism has on the population before one can formulate any kind of plan to combat it. Racism is comparable to Play-Doh. Throughout history, racism has taken various forms in various different scopes: overwhelming normality during the civil rights movements of the twentieth century, problematic professional divides of the twenty-first century, and even the rhetorical failures of popular figures today. The history of racism in America reflects that, “…racism has not managed to harden. It has had to renew itself, to adapt itself, to change its appearance. . .” (Fanon 32). Yet, to try to stop a pliable evil, one must understand its nature. Racism affects society immensely at a given point, as one can observe through examples in every era of American history: the civil rights movement sparked immense backlash from white supremacist groups like the KKK; America today finally recognizes the reality of the wage gap between races and yet no change has come about; and finally, rhetorical failures on live television often receive only mild repercussions. Those who seek supplemental methods of enacting social reform in America must understand this fact and strive to create an ideology that is methodical, timely, and proper in relation to the current rhetorical situation. Otherwise, it is likely doomed to failure.

It is not difficult to assume that if one were to standardize racial humor in a comedic setting they would inherently leave minorities at risk of severe social misrepresentation and appropriation without proper representation. Already an epidemic in the United States, minorities have always been persecuted by comedians because of cultural differences that are deemed as quality material for comedy despite the times. It’s commonly known that most stereotypes are formed because of misconceptions about different cultures; but nonetheless, “stereotypes exist because there's always some truth to stereotypes. Not always, but often” (Jobrani), and those truths are often weaponized in comedy. If it weren’t for comedy, stereotypes would be significantly less hurtful to the minority; and as a truthful comment on someone’s culture is acceptable, to add sarcasm or any comedic tools would be to directly attack that aspect of one’s culture. So, it’s a logical assertion that to encourage the use of racial humor in comedy would only further the existing bombardments that many cultures receive from comedic rhetors.

Regardless of how racism is ended, there is a communal agreement by millions of Americans today that this epidemic must be ended after centuries of undermining our morals as a society. How to go about ending racism is subjective to one’s beliefs, skill sets, and short-term goals; yet, the only constant is that it must be done. Activists today have done a magnificent job at protesting racism in America. They protest with purpose, dedication, and a certain passion that is undoubtedly inspiring. Protests have, over the last century, led to the abolishment of slavery, the enactment of African Americans’ right to vote, desegregated America, and even have succeeded in overcoming racial sentiment to support putting an African American in office. Despite these monumental achievements, my personal opinion believes that America’s growing divide regarding civil rights cannot wait another century to achieve its ultimate goal of ending racism in America. It is a situation that must be accelerated to ensure that our society does not crumble in upon itself.

It is important to note, as well, that much of the racial humor platform relies on one key aspect to be successful: a proper rhetor, and without an appropriate source of racial humor the entire platform becomes obsolete. Already the American comedy industry has fine examples of successful rhetors using racial humor in their comedy; Jobrani ranking amongst the best. Those who use the right tone, have the appropriate record, demographics, and are charismatic enough, best exemplify the rhetor required to bring together an audience by the use of racial humor to reveal common flaws. For instance, a reasonable concern would be that people like Bill Maher, the talk show host, would abuse the use of racism in actually racist ways. Maher was ridiculed for saying on live television, “’I’m a house nigger’… Immediately, he told the audience that he was joking,” (Morris) and sparked concern over his lack of censorship with such harsh diction. There is a staunch difference between using racial jokes to unify an audience and using racist words or phrases to add unnecessarily graphic tones to jokes. It is a divide that is, understandably, a bit thin for comfort. Nonetheless, it is a risk that is justifiable if the intentions and presentation are sound. 

Another recent example of an improper rhetor would be Louis C.K. though his particular case reflects how sudden reputational swings can lead to the loss of one’s ability to use racial humor. To be honest, I had significant evidence of the acceptable, efficient use of racial humor in comedy by example of the famed comedian Louis. The evidence I had accumulated was sympathetic towards those of minorities and an objective perspective: “white people problems- moving mom into the cellar; oh shit, their cutting off our heads today [in another country with an Arabic accent]” (C.K.), informative: “call Debbie to a white person, ‘well I haven’t had a clean glass of water in two years you fat shit,” and self-reflective: “only people near my fat, white body should have jobs… and not those Pakistani call service assholes.” Those few jokes taken from several Louis C.K. skits were all, in context, very successful at generating a communal approval from the audience who noticeable identified the irony in Louis’ work while enjoying it; which is much like the platform I intend to support for racial humor. Despite his comedic abilities, Louis’ recent sexual harassment scandals have led to the immediate demise of his credibility as an entertainer. He is a recent, relatable testament to the acuteness of what it means to be an appropriate rhetor. 

Furthermore, it’s unrealistic for American activists to alienate the issue of racism in America instead of addressing it head on as the use of racial humor in comedy would essentially do. Much of the work of contemporary social movements have done their best to enact social reform, and not social change. Reform dictates that something is inherently changed at legal level, but change reflects genuine effects on others’ opinions of an issue. One cannot simply reform legal codes to make it illegal to be a racist or make it illegal to discriminate, but one should strive to change the emotional feelings of prejudice one has on another. To alienate those who oppose one’s own opinions is like putting a bandage on a wound that begs for stitches. The use of racial humor would take a more emotional approach than legal change. Through the unifying of audiences by the use of comedy, racial humor could affect individuals on the scale of one’s person and not their demographics or political affiliation. Comedy has the power to transcend political barriers and reach one on a spiritual level where humans are most impressionable. Shiralee Hood once stated, “if you make someone laugh, you’ve won the battle… building bridges by making the world laugh, making people understand” and that quote rings true today as we sit at a crossroads: to reform society through the illegalization racism or to change society to make racism a thing of the past. I, and the methodology of using comedic racism, believe the latter is the best course of actions for America. 

The use of racial humor isn’t necessarily to end a stigma on racism, but instead the main purpose is to reveal common flaws between cultures in hopes that an audience can identify, internalize, and discover how ridiculous the nature of racism is to help end the individual’s own prejudices. If one takes the time to reflect on themselves, they will quickly realize that it’s exceptionally easy to criticize another culture without first recognizing the flaws of one’s own culture. Christians teach their children to believe a bearded man can fit down a chimney to deliver presents because it’s Christ’s birthday and why not. The majority of American-Jews attend synagogue and pray in a language completely beyond their comprehension. Muslims pray towards the direction of a holy city they’ve only seen on Google Images. White Americans can underachieve their way through any college in the country while Canadians are inherently spineless and overly nice. Every culture or race or religion has their own attributes that, from a third-party perspective, can be deemed as comical. The major point to make is that comedy has the power to reveal common flaws in different cultures that may not be recognizable to someone in that culture. The difficult part is that to reveal those flaws often takes the use of stereotypes, stigmas, or other comedic strategies that are considered racist in nature. Regardless, “you can still do [ethnic and racial comedy] if you tell the truth. If you do it out of meanness, it’s no fun” (Lopez) which is valid in practice as proven by Jobrani, Lopez, and C.K. who continuously used racial humor in their comedy for comedic effect and not simply to be racist. If similar rhetors are able to have the same effect while also doing so for a political purpose, there is hope that racial humor could be successful.  

Despite decades of dedication to the decimation of racism from American society, the epidemic that is racism still calls for the use of racial humor to unite the American populace through communal dismay for the surviving elements of prejudice. One can even think of today’s more traditional methods of enacting social reform (sit-ins, boycotts, marches, social media, the news, etc.) as comparable to the, unfortunately slow, methods used by the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) in the twentieth century. While nonetheless progressive, both modes of protest came, and have come, to the point that they were, and maybe are, perceived as unbearably slow in their efforts to reform American culture. I believe that at this point in American history there is a dire need to enact change to our crippled American society by altering the game altogether. In the Spring of 1869, the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) split from the American Woman Suffrage Movement to chase what they believed to be a bolder, more efficient, and more inspiring methodology to grant women the same rights as men. Intensely ridiculed by their pier women’s activist groups, their idea was simply put: to enact change through federal reform over state-by-state reformation. Today, I argue that a movement by American rhetors to use racial humor in comedy as a tool for social change, instead of a medium for hatred, would be similar in effect to the drastic change spearheaded by the NWSA in 1869. Though the concept of purposefully using racial humor is undoubtedly controversial at first glance, I contend that such a dramatic shift in America’s current battle against racism could lead to countless decisive victories as many activists, including I, rage the battle onward against tyranny, bigotry, and oppression. I challenge the reader to be open-minded, and consider the same for oneself.