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English 101

November 13, 2018

Race Relations Highlighted by Dave

During the early 2000’s race relations in the United States were an issue that no one had

really talked about or were making nationwide efforts to fix. The Dave Chappelle show was a

comedy skit show that ran from 2003-2006 that would touch on sensitive, and sometimes

offensive subjects that no one else would. This series of shows would highlight the stereotypes

that the country had associated with minorities, primarily African Americans, along with other

social issues pertaining to race. Skits from this period still pertain to present day and stay

relevant. Minorities since the early 2000’s have started multiple movements to end stereotypes,

unsaid segregation, mistreatment of minorities, and to integrate minorities into positions of

leadership and power. Through oppression, such as systematic racism, the mental and emotional

mentality of minority changes and can be degraded. The Dave Chappelle Show enabled the

nation to better understand race relations through the eyes of the oppressed by using comedy to

show the effects of discrimination and stereotypes.

One of the most well-known and influential pieces from this skit show depicts what

African American people would do if they were to receive reparations for all the wrong doings

the United States has done to them. With the history of mistreatment and oppression of African

Americans in the United States, Dave integrates the assumed perspective of the majority along

with common stereotypes of African Americans. African Americans are shown has “gangster’s”
throughout the skit now that they have received their reparation checks. With this skit coming

from the perspective of a news forecast, the African American weather man states,” And I will

tell you something else you probably didn’t know. This isn’t my real speaking voice. This is. I

talk like a straight up gangsta, bitch.” He changes from a monotone high-pitched voice using

formal language to a low-pitched voice and a lot of slang. This stereotyping of African

Americans talking a certain way was deliberately annunciated in the skit to show how absurd

these stereotypes are. He overexaggerates the voices used to show how incorrect the perceived

stereotypes actually are. He later refers to the black news caster as “pasty”, a common term used

to describe a white person, to show that stereotyping can go both ways even though the majority

might not realize it. It is used in a way for the majority to realize how being called pasty makes

them feel and cause them to think about generalizations they make. Another thing that helps

enhance this critical thinking is the crudeness of the joke. A joke is established when the

punchline is made, and Chappelle has mastered efficiently using his punchlines.

With the United States being a mix of numerous cultures, races, genders, and other

unique characteristics, cultural appropriation can be sometimes viewed as offensive. One thing

that brings a minority close together is a shared characteristic. When this characteristic is taken

by the majority and used as their own, the minority loses a sense of uniqueness and singularity.

While cultural appropriation can take numerous forms big and small, not everyone sees it as a

big deal. Some can view it as a form of respect for a culture or in a way in which the

appropriated group is viewed in an influential way. With the technological takeoff and the ever-

increasing presence of social media, this has become a common day thing that has been seen

more and more often. Towards the beginning of this technological era, Dave Chappelle released

a skit entitled “The Racial Draft” in 2004 in which different groups of people would draft a
famous person and adopt them into your group in an NFL draft fashion. The blacks drafted first,

and they selected Tiger Woods. The announcers say,” His father black. His mother Thai. Well it

doesn’t matter anymore because he is officially black.” While this may not seem like a big deal,

this is stripping Tiger of his unique individual characteristics and associating him with the larger

group. While this is only a situation that effects tiger woods, society has grouped many people

without considering their ethnic and cultural backgrounds. An example of this would be calling

any person with dark skin black without considering where they have come. As this relates to

America, stripping the minority of their individualistic characteristics and associating it with the

majorities own can create a sense of a lost identity. It diminishes the morality of the minority as

they feel lesser of themselves as a group and person. The intestinal harshness of this might come

off as racist, but the underlying point is that the majority strips the identity of the minority

without realizing the effect it has on them. A study from the University of Michigan College of

Health and Behavior did a study on young African Americans and how their racial identity

effects their physiological health, and they found, “Racial identity has been linked to the

psychological health and well-being of African Americans. Although evidence bearing on the

nature of the relationship between racial identity and psychological functioning in African

Americans remains equivocal, recent conceptualizations and empirical investigations have begun

to more effectively examine this relationship.” This means that African Americans are affected

by their racial identity and that if someone was to question, appropriate, or state they are

something other than their race, their mental health is put at risk. For a minority to put a skit out

with the potential to jeopardize his career like this means that he has personally been affected by

people attempting to alter or steal his racial identity. While this is one interpretation of his work,

it could also be viewed in a way that highlights the best values in each group. Each group is
excited with each new added member even though they are not exactly their own. It could be

perceived that Chappelle is trying to show how we can all be integrated amongst one another

while still being accepted by your group. With the amount of ways this skit could be perceived,

the skit itself had mixed reviews but had people conversating about it. With this bold skit, the

nation’s attention was caught as the underlying message was perceived to an extent.

Dave Chappelle’s goals for these skits were to enable the nation to better understand race

relations through the eyes of the oppressed by using comedy to show the effects of

discrimination and stereotypes. He used techniques such as overexaggerating and explicit

comedy to get these messages across. There are intertwined themes such as the oppression of

African Americans through most his work. He shows these themes in a variety of ways which are

then perceived differently by each audience member. Chappelle’s work can be viewed in many

different ways but ultimately comes down to the interpretation of the reader. He leaves a lot of

his work up for interpretation which can be risky in the sense of backlash but also affective in the

sense he gets the message he wants out.