This past Wednesday, my level nineteen American Studies class embarked on a marvelous fieldtrip into the depths of downtown Chicago. This journey included a visit to the Smart Museum of Art, the Osaka Japanese garden, and a viewing of the Chicago-based play, Clybourne Park.
The plays plot begins in 1959 with a white couple moving out of their home in the predominately white Clybourne Park neighborhood of Chicago and a black family subsequently moving in. The idea of having black neighbors bothered and upset many of the white couple's white neighbors. The play then flash forwards to present day, now-predominately black Clybourne Park neighborhood at a meeting of neighbors pertaining building codes. The topic of race gets brought up at the meeting and it does not end pretty causing division between the neighbors.
The play gravitated on the topic of racism in Chicago and how it's changed (or perhaps not changed at all) from fifty years back to present day.
To symbolize racism fifty years ago, certain white characters bluntly expressed their concerns of a black family moving into their neighborhood.
To display racism in present day, there was a number of racist jokes that got thrown around. Jaw dropping, incredibly offensive, sometimes disturbing racist jokes. Racist jokes that I do not feel comfortable quoting on my school blog. But all in all, these jokes were quite funny.
I've always been taught that racist jokes are not to be laughed at. Not only because they are hurtful to the ethnicity of the joke, but also because you never know who is watching you laugh at something that offends them. In the incredibly liberal area where I live, you DO NOT want to be known as a racist and talk travels quick. But the thing that amazed me the most about the racist jokes in Clybourne Park was that everybody laughed at them. Well maybe not every single person in the audience, but it sure seemed like it. But why are racist jokes okay to laugh at when watching a play and not okay to laugh at in real life?
I've developed a few theories to try to explain this phenomenon:
1. It was dark in the theater and everyone was fixated on the play, not you. So no one would ever know whether or not you laughed at these jokes.
2. You heard the majority of the audience, black and white and everything in-between, laughing at the jokes, so it was okay, because everyone was doing it.
3. The play is a form of entertainment and they had plenty of jokes not pertaining to race, so you knew it was also a comedy and the jokes were intended to be laughed at.
I know these theories can be seen as ridiculous, but they are my best speculations at this point. If anyone else has any other theories I would very much like to hear them, because this was quite an experience for me and any insight would be appreciated.
The plays plot begins in 1959 with a white couple moving out of their home in the predominately white Clybourne Park neighborhood of Chicago and a black family subsequently moving in. The idea of having black neighbors bothered and upset many of the white couple's white neighbors. The play then flash forwards to present day, now-predominately black Clybourne Park neighborhood at a meeting of neighbors pertaining building codes. The topic of race gets brought up at the meeting and it does not end pretty causing division between the neighbors.
The play gravitated on the topic of racism in Chicago and how it's changed (or perhaps not changed at all) from fifty years back to present day.
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| Division Between Neighbors in Clybourne Park |
To display racism in present day, there was a number of racist jokes that got thrown around. Jaw dropping, incredibly offensive, sometimes disturbing racist jokes. Racist jokes that I do not feel comfortable quoting on my school blog. But all in all, these jokes were quite funny.
I've always been taught that racist jokes are not to be laughed at. Not only because they are hurtful to the ethnicity of the joke, but also because you never know who is watching you laugh at something that offends them. In the incredibly liberal area where I live, you DO NOT want to be known as a racist and talk travels quick. But the thing that amazed me the most about the racist jokes in Clybourne Park was that everybody laughed at them. Well maybe not every single person in the audience, but it sure seemed like it. But why are racist jokes okay to laugh at when watching a play and not okay to laugh at in real life?
I've developed a few theories to try to explain this phenomenon:
1. It was dark in the theater and everyone was fixated on the play, not you. So no one would ever know whether or not you laughed at these jokes.
2. You heard the majority of the audience, black and white and everything in-between, laughing at the jokes, so it was okay, because everyone was doing it.
3. The play is a form of entertainment and they had plenty of jokes not pertaining to race, so you knew it was also a comedy and the jokes were intended to be laughed at.
I know these theories can be seen as ridiculous, but they are my best speculations at this point. If anyone else has any other theories I would very much like to hear them, because this was quite an experience for me and any insight would be appreciated.
We laugh at race jokes, not because we're racists, but because they play off of broad stereotypes to specific ethnic or cultural groups. In this age of political correctness, everyone is offended by something but its important to remember that race or 'stereotype' jokes are not intended to define a culture or, on the other end, attack an individual of that culture. I believe that we should exercise sensitivity when telling or hearing a racist joke because some really are inappropriate and offensive but we can also find humor in the differences we share and how they manifest themselves in real world situations depicted in jokes.
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