Racist Obama Jokes: Can Jokes Be Told About a Black President and Not Be Racist?

How many racist Obama jokes have you heard? Not too many, one would hope. Still, they're out there, circulating on the internet and in the break rooms, the coffee shops and the churches, the taverns and the living rooms of America. But get ready, because if you haven't heard but a few, there will soon be plenty more.

And don't expect racist Obama jokes to come from the national media, unless, of course, a shock jock like Don Imus slips up and calls the First Lady a "nappy-headed" you-know-what. Don't expect someone like Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity to utter anything but pure circumspect racial innuendo, thereby skating a racist charge with their conservative verbalizations concerning race that can only be snickered at by the most coarse and asinine. And you won't see David Letterman or Jay Leno going into that territory, either.

But will there be a more politically correct form of joke-telling?

With a black president (Andrew Young, former ambassador to the United Nations, said on Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report" that Barack Obama was a "multiracial" president), the question must be asked: Does the fact that Barack Obama -- who happens to be a little more dark-skinned than any of his predecessors in the White House - is a black man change the dynamics of the telling of a joke about the president?

The answer should be: No, it does not. It should not matter. The joke should depend on the content material and have nothing to do with race other than what is socially acceptable.

For example, Conan O'Brien of "Late Night," while Senator Obama was campaigning in Iowa, quipped: "Over the weekend, Senator Barack Obama announced he's running for president ... Obama gave a speech in front of thousands of people in Iowa. During the speech, Obama pointed out his family in the crowd, which was unnecessary since he was in Iowa."

O'Brien's joke is socially acceptable and race-referent at the same time. However, it is not racially denigrating in any way. It is in reference to Iowa's predominantly white demographics and how few blacks there are in Iowa.

A joke that would be seen as racist would be one that points to the stereotypical black person, one that dehumanizes, condescends, and/or in some way devalues and denigrates the individual or persons involved in the joke. For example, if a comedian told the acronymic joke "What does 'CHANGE' stand for?" during a performance, the racially demeaning line gets crossed.

Although it is not known from where the Florida school teacher who wrote the racist Obama joke on his chalkboard for several of his classes heard or saw the joke (the acronym spelled out reads: "Can you Help A N***** Get Elected?"), it is more than likely he picked it up watching or listening to a comedian or from the internet. This joke uses an inflammatory racial stereotype to denigrate Barack Obama, whose political slogan was "Change." It also connotes the idea of begging, which is not a socially accepted practice.

Said teacher, Greg Howard, was suspended without pay for 10 days by the Jackson County School Board, ordered to attend race sensitivity classes, ordered to write a letter of apology to his students, and reassigned to adult education classes.

Some believe he should have been fired outright. The school board insists that they acted appropriately and that Howard's actions were not directed at any particular student.

But can comedians and pundits find ways to poke fun at a President Obama like they have skewered every other president in recent memory? It is doubtful if they can be as merciless as they were with president George W. Bush, a man who seems to have built his entire presidency on how to manufacture fertile material for comedians, but where there's political fodder, there has got to be a way to jokingly refer to it.

Even if that president is black.

Comedian Bill Maher, host of HBO's "Real Time" and former host of "Politically Incorrect," suggested on CNN's "Larry King Live" that Senator Obama was seriously not funny. "Barack Obama has to give comedians something to work with. Seriously, here's a guy who's not fat, not cheating on his wife, not stupid, not angry and not a phony. Who needs an a**hole like that around for the next four years?!" Maher said that he would enjoy being able to tell an Obama joke without having to worry about being labeled a racist. "If you can't laugh at a guy who went to Columbia, Harvard, the Senate and the White House, and who happens to be black, the racist is you."

Perhaps as president Barack Obama will be more comically charitable.

But the ugliness that is racism will definitely play a part in how jokes are constructed and told. But comedians, creative individuals that they are, will no doubt be able to do it just as well with a black president as they did with a white one. Humor can be racially oriented, but it does not have to be. And comedians can make situations, quotes, and acts amusing. They do not have to resort to racist stereotyping or base remarks to convey the humorous aspects involved.

Racism is fear personified. The fear is driven by ignorance. The ignorance, of course, is fueled by the inability to gain knowledge or the inaccessibility to knowledge that could alter said state of ignorance.

Comedy is a way to alleviate that ignorance, illuminate it, and eliminate it. Through the clever use of words and images, comedians can accentuate, neutralize, or deconstruct politics in such a way as to make it a far more entertaining field than the cut-and-dried basics of a news bulletin or an actual legislative or political process. Comedians have the ability to provide access to viewing our politicians in new ways. And they can do it without a stereotypically dehumanizing device.

Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report" and "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," shows that make jokes or spoof racial topics rather openly, are examples of how comedy along racial lines can be used to poke fun at society and politics, especially the more ridiculous social constructs. And racism is certainly an example of a ridiculous construct.

But will the comedians take it easier on President Obama? Doubtful.

Will the conservative comedians and pundits cry foul and scream that, while the poster child for presidential idiocy was crucified by comedians everywhere, President Obama is being treated with kid gloves (much like those same comedians and pundits have cried and screamed while Senator Obama ran for the presidency)? Of course they will.

Will there be more racist Obama jokes? Most certainly. Far more than will ever make it to stage, television, or the internet. Those that do not understand and those who challenge through ignorance will resort to lowbrow humor in an attempt to bring Obama down to their level.

But no matter what Obama says or does, no matter how badly he governs, no matter what situations and circumstances arise, there is no way he will ever provide comedians and pundits with even a fraction of the material that has been provided them by Bush and his administration.

******

For more (non- racist) Obama jokes gleaned from the internet, see "Best Barack Obama Jokes," by Nancy Tracy.

******

Sources:

"Larry King Live," CNN Television

FilthyRag.com

"The Colbert Report," Comedy Central Network

"The Late Show with Conan O'Brien," NBC Television