A black guy, a Mexican and a white guy walk into a Chinese restaurant. The Mexican guy says (insert foot in mouth/politically incorrect/ racist punch line here).
If the thought of what some people will use to fill in that punch line makes you cringe, welcome to the club.
Balancing race and humor is a talent few people have to pull off.
When comic George Lopez performs in town, he has the largely Chicano audience howling at his jokes about Latino gardeners and undocumented immigrants. And when comedian Jeff Foxworthy who made a career off his "you might be a redneck if" jokes cracks about beer-chugging stock-car racing fans, his mirror audiences wants more.
But when a few University of Arizona students, at an off-campus party on a day to honor Martin Luther King Jr. mockingly dress as "blacks" — including at least two young people in blackface — to accentuate racial stereotypes, few people are laughing.
People are also reading…
Because it's not funny.
The party, to which attendees were asked to dress as their favorite black person, attracted people "dressed in do-rags and fur coats with black-painted faces," according to a story in the Arizona Daily Wildcat.
The party's organizer was quoted as saying that two people dressed as lawyers and two from the television sitcom, "Family Matters." The party host also told the campus newspaper that four of the 15 partygoers were black and "not offended by the party."
The party's defenders said the partygoers were exercising their free speech. True.
And most people, I suspect, understand that the "gangsta and ho" party was sophomoric humor gone horribly awry. I don't think many people truly believe the partygoers acted out of hate. Ignorance, sure. Hurtful intent, nope.
But the party theme reinforces a key point: Some people still find it acceptable to make caricatures based on racial stereotypes for laughs.
"We should be concerned," said Stephanie Fryberg, UA assistant professor of psychology.
"This is an indication that people don't understand race issues," said Fryberg, whose research focuses on social representations of race and culture.
There's a big difference when skillful, professional comedians or satirists, like Lopez and Foxworthy, walk the fine edge of racial humor.
Ask comedian Michael Richards, "Seinfeld's" Kramer, who tried to explain away racial slurs he hurled at a black heckler in a comedy club audience.
The best racial comics make social commentary while their audiences laugh at themselves.
Students at the party here and those who attended similar parties at campuses across the country have found themselves at the center of a storm of controversy over race and free expression.
When students, here or elsewhere, mock a racial or ethnic group, they do so in an insensitive way, says Fryberg, who also is an affiliate faculty member with American Indian Studies at the UA.
The students at the party here are not from the group they ridiculed, she said. They don't know what racial prejudice is and how it hurts, Fryberg said.
UA students who spoke out against the party feel deep pain, Fryberg said.
The party came on the heels of a campus exercise about race. Signs saying "White People Only" and "Colored People Only" were placed on a dorm's drinking fountains, doors and restrooms.
The students felt the sting of segregation. But the slap of stereotypes persist on campus.
Administrators at the UA say they are using the controversy to open discussions about racism.
The UA, like most universities and colleges, has taught racial inclusiveness and diversity.
Many students have embraced the lessons. They understand the lasting pain humor built on racism and misunderstanding can leave.
Too bad some young people skipped the lessons.
online chat
Have something to say about this column? Join Ernesto Portillo Jr. for a moderated chat today from noon to 1 p.m. at: go.azstarnet.com/ernestochat
