"Oh, child, being colored can be a lotta fun when ain't nobody looking!"

[Empowerer]

Purlie Victorious, by Ossie Davis.

I think it's wonderful that the WH Correspondents' Association hired Wanda Sykes, a black comedian, to headline their dinner with the first black president, since she was able to say some things that no white comedian could say to and about him.

For example, I thought I would die laughing when she said that black people were proud of "The first black president" . . . until he messed up - and then it would be, "What's up with the half-white guy? Who voted for the mulatto?"

This would probably have been really offensive coming from a white comedian, no matter who it was or how it was intended. But coming from a black person, it was one of the funniest things I've heard in a long time. And I liked the idea that many white Americans got a little glimpse of "black on black" humor - which can be very sharp, but usually tempered by affection and love (even if mixed with exasperation) for one another and for the majority population - that has sustained us over the decades and centuries.

As Ossie Davis wrote in Purlie Victorious: "being colored can be a lotta fun when ain't nobody looking!" Saturday night, President Obama and Wanda Sykes let America have a little peek at what this means and America seems to have enjoyed what it saw.

IOW - America witnessed, for the first time in history, the President of the United States play the dozens . . . :rofl:

It's baby steps, but the more we learn about and become comfortable with one another, the closer we will be to that more perfect union the President urges us to strive for.

[Sukie]

1. Well said. Thank you.

Best take on this issue I have seen thus far.

[HopeOverFear]

2. Remember the saying "everybody wants to be black until the cops show up" LOL

[DebbieCDC]

3. Excellent post - thank you

I lived many years in DC which has a large black population, and heard a lot of this affectionate joking between my black co-workers and neighbors, and loved hearing it from Wanda - who by the way kills me every time I see her on TV or hear one of her bits on the radio.

[Empowerer]

4. delete - dupe

[Empowerer]

5. She is one of the funniest people around -

The funny thing now is that all of the fake outrage in the media has made this woman Topic One - I'll bet her bookings have increased exponentially, not to mention her fee.

[Number23]

6. Empowerer, I LOVE your posts

I really wish you'd post more often.

Even Obama's mocking "whassup" to that clowndick Michael Steele was a good glimpse of black on black humor. Maybe that's why he stood up, he knew he was being clowned but he knew that was part of the rules.

IOW - America witnessed, for the first time in history, the President of the United States play the dozens

One of the best (and most painful) parts of my childhood. One of the MANY reasons I think black people are some of the toughest, funniest, and most pragmatic people in the world. You get told how ugly and stupid your mama/daddy/great aunt Lucy etc. is on a regular basis and you learn how to suck sh*t up real quick! :)

It's baby steps, but the more we learn about and become comfortable with one another, the closer we will be to that more perfect union the President urges us to strive for.

Lovely. Happy to rec

[HillWilliam]

7. Tickled to be Rec 5 -- on to the Greatest

Every group has its own special flavor of humor. Gay humor is its own thing, too, and not everyone gets it. It was wonderful of The Prez and Wanda to share something special with all of us in a way we could all feel included.

And good Lord, I love me some Wanda, have for years. I was as surprised as anyone when she came out.

If anyone thought she went over the line even a little bit doesn't know Wanda at ALL.

At. ALL.

If she'd'a wanted to, she really could have hurt some puglican feelin's by speaking a little truth to power.

[MadMaddie]

8. Ain't that the truth...she only used the work hell 3 times...

She has quite the vocabulary.....and she kicked ass at the dinner!!

[vaberella]

9. Reminds me of George Jefferson (The Jeffersons): "He's HALF alright." n/t

[Hekate]

10. Love your post, Empowerer. KnR

:hi:

[EffieBlack]

11. I LOVE that play! And I love that line!

I hadn't thought about it that way, but you are dead on - that is exactly what happened the other night and it was a beautiful thing. It was as if President Obama and Wanda Sykes let the rest of America in on the inside joke (well, everybody but Michael Steele who, as was discussed in another thread, didn't seem to realize that he wasn't IN on the joke - he WAS the joke!). It was great and demonstrated another reason how striving for racial diversity is an important objective, and not just about quotas or political correctness.

[Empowerer]

12. Good point!

[Uzybone]

13. too late to rec, but great post

[Empowerer]

14. Thanks! :-)