THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, December 9, 1995 TAG: 9512090307
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Charlise Lyles
LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
I detected disappointment in Mama's face the minute she met me at the transit station during a recent visit home to Cleveland.
That rogue Art Modell has got her all upset, I thought.
We climbed in the car without talking much.
Finally as we rode uptown, ``Did you have to call the president of the United States of America `a white guy from Arkansas'? '' she asked.
She was referring to the column I wrote a month or so ago about my visit to the White House.
``I was going to put it on the bulletin board at work. Now, I wouldn't want my friends to see it.''
I was stunned. Painfully.
``My editor, Fred, thought it was funny. And he's a white guy,'' I smart-alecked back at her. The old ``my editor'' defense.
Mama shot me a dark look and drove on. . . the silent treatment.
Then, I felt bad.
I had failed to meet my mother's journalistic standards. That triggered second thoughts about comments from some local readers who had also complained about ``the white guy'' remark.
I hadn't intended any racial rudeness by it. I was just trying to make the BIG HONCHO seem like a regular guy.
But some readers, including my mother, had not taken it that way.
``Do I detect a bit of prejudice? Prejudice against whites? Against men? Against people from Arkansas?'' asked Mike Fremaux of Newport News.
For Fremaux, other readers and my mother, the comment fell into the realm of distasteful ethnic humor.
And as racially sensitive as I claim to be, I needed to do some soul-searching.
So I sought ethnic humor counseling.
Richard Pryor wasn't available, so I called Phil Nee, a Chinese- American comedian in New York City.
Last summer, the standup, who refers to himself as a ``humorist of color,'' took part in an ethnic humor conference at the University of Virginia.
Black, Hispanic, Chinese and Jewish comedians and teachers from across the country asked tough and not so funny questions.
What is ethnic humor? Under what circumstances is it inappropriate?
There is a mighty thin line, just barely visible, said Nee, that marks the difference between offensive and acceptable racial and ethnic humor.
It's disgusting when it hinges on derogatory stereotypes: Irish as drunks, Polish as dummies, blacks as crooks.
Further, Nee said, America's minority groups have found relief laughing at their oppression and oppressors.
Richard Pryor elevated it to high art. Brilliantly, he portrayed the agony and ugliness of racism. Vicariously, blacks and whites suffered with him, laughing all the way.
Whether ethnic humor is appropriate also hinges on whether we're laughing at someone or with someone.
All things are not equal when it comes to racial humor - that is, of course, the source of the problem and therefore the humor.
Nevertheless, it can't hurt to put the ``white guy'' remark to the old ``other foot test'' as reader Fremaux suggested.
What if the president had called me a black gal from Ohio?
I have to admit. I wouldn't have liked it.
Sorry, readers. Sorry, Ma. by CNB