When commenting on American politics, many a comedian will say that real life provides better material for jokes than a joke writer can dream up. For example, today I heard a George Carlin routine about people who try to show how unbiased they are by making statements like, “I have a friend who just happens to be black”. Carlin said you don’t just happen to be black, it happens depending on who your parents are. Carlin said that the child of a black person who happened to be Scandinavian would be worth a comment. Carlin added that he’s heard people say, “I have a friend who happens to be gay”, and even that the friend happens to be “openly gay’. Carlin added that you would never hear anyone say that someone happens to be 'openly black'.
Oh yeah? Well, in this morning’s KC Star, a reprinted Washington Post article told about how Barack Obama’s achievement to become the presumptive Democratic Party’s nominee had “sparked an increase in racist and white supremacist activity, mainly on the Internet, according to leaders of hate groups and the organizations that track them…”. The article further quotes one “…Billy Roper, a 36-year-old who runs a group called White Revolution in Russellville, Ark., ‘Nothing has awakened normally complacent white Americans more than the prospect of America having an overtly nonwhite president.” (Italics are mine.) Is saying someone is overtly nonwhite, the same as saying that he is openly black? George Carlin said it couldn’t happen. Too bad George couldn’t have hung around to read the Washington Post article. I’m sure he would have made a humorous comment about an idiot who can say that someone is “openly black”.
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