Paul,

I do not consider you to be nor do I wish to treat you as an idiot, and I apologize for misunderstanding your objection. However, it appears you missed two key points of my post:

• "annual year-end stand-up comedy routine at school for the parents night"
• "And it's a little too edgy, so I resisted temptation."

In short, Paul, that comedy routine has always been written for and delivered to PARENTS, not other children. And, more to the point, while I CONSIDERED the joke, I ultimately rejected it, precisely because of the misinterpretation of the material that you appeared to share.

Am I still a monster?

One thing does irk me, Paul, and this is not directed to you specifically. In your note, you automatically interpreted a joke about the President to be racist. A number of people seem to default to that state.

When will we be allowed to look at Barack Obama and see a President who takes all the gentle slings and barbs of comedy that come with the office instead of a black man whom we must treat with kid gloves?

Matthew, forgive me if I don't recall the long tradition of making jokes about killing Presidents. Last I heard any threat made against the President (even in jest) is considered a crime. I'm all for poking fun at politicians. They all pretty much suck and I support political satire. However, gentle slings and barbs of comedy are not the same as joking about killing him.

Do people play the race card when they shouldn't? Yes they do. Do people downplay the race card when they shouldn't? Yes they do.

If I had seen 6 or 7 students in full Nazi regalia (for comparison, as that would be an equivalent over here) walking through school during lunch-hour, my first thoughts wouldn't be "blitzkrieg" or "ethnic cleansing" but ... Student Film project.

******************

That's all well and good, but if you were a black student in Georgia you might interpret a bunch of kids in Klan robes just a little bit differently. Since the Klan is still alive and well, and last time I checked the Nazi party wasn't (at least not the Nazi party that would be decked out in full WWII regalia), they're really not equivalent at all. 

The teacher was wrong, the students were wrong. Period.

Paul,

See, and here I thought you said you understood: the joke in question is not about assassinating a president; it's about how such a math lesson is impractical.

But force fit the facts as you would have them.

And as far as the race card game, deal me out of this hand. I've no interest in playing.

Of course, the dead guy stayed dead, and then the beater got up and started pointing at the dead guy, saying "See! It's his fault! I told him everything is ok, but he just lays there!"

Not sure what made me think of that story, but there it is.

"Knut, what I take offense to is the fact that you think the black kid getting angry about seeing people dressed up in KKK uniforms is worse than the racially insensitive jokes."

That is not a fact.  I said that a guy threatening violence (and he makes it quite clear that he was ready to kick some ass) against people who have not done anything is worse than inappropriate humor that may come as a response to that threat.

It is clear from the article and other articles that they were simply passing through the cafeteria on the way to another location on school grounds and they had lost track of time so they didn't realize it was lunch hour.  They were not "parading around".  The jokes and everything, that followed after them being stopped.  No honors student is going to do something like make that joke unsolicited to a stranger while the teacher is leading them from one part of school to another for a school project.

Now, the situation may be more complex, but to me it simply looks like the black kid was picking a fight he shouldn't have (going for physical violence) and the kids in the costumes were lashing out verbally with some lame jokes.

"The teacher should have known better than to let the kids parade around the school in those outfits. How dumb could she have been not to think this wouldn't have caused problems?"

I'm going to presume that's a typo, there.  But as I said, they were not parading around ,they were not trying to provoke anyone, they were accompanied by a teacher. They simply didn't take into account it being the lunch hour. Usually, when you're filming cheap and fast you want to avoid time consuming costume changes just because you're going to take a 2 minute walk to the next location. 

Besides, if someone had calmly asked "what's all this then?" and accepted the teacher's assurances that it was simply a Student Film, that should have been the end of it.

"But really Knut, keep blaming the black people whenever white people do something stupid."

What exactly is stupid, here?

They were making a Student Film about racism in America, they were wearing costumes and they were using the school as a location because it was cheap and fast.  The only mistake they did was not realizing it was the lunch hour.

Maybe they should have been more careful about that, or at least taken the hoods off.  Maybe.

What turned this into a situation was a black kid immediately jumping to the conclusion that these were racist white people in need of a good beating. 

He's not even presenting it as if he walks over to them all friendly, asking them what they're doing and what's with the costumes, only then to be accosted with racial slurs. He describes seeing them and immediately becoming very angry and deciding to kick some ass.

He was offended, he reacted rashly and things escalated from that. That is the timeline presented by every article I've seen on this.  The inappropriate humor is a byproduct of this situation. It is not the cause of it.

As for it being a given that seeing a lot of people walking calmly through the school accompanied by a teacher while wearing Klan robes must suggest actual Klansmen rather than actors in costume? That might be quite a leap. Especially in a predominantly white school.

In hindsight, a mistake. But so was the aggressive response from the black student. There is no suggestion anywhere in the article that there is any particular history of racist conflict in the school, and indeed several of the History students were of another race than white (presumably asian or hispanic, the article just says there were no black kids).    

I only ever notice (and that could be a problem with perception, frankly) white people telling others to get over race. I don't see a lot of minorities going "Ah, we're all good - there's no difference between any of the races, the playing ground has never been more level!"

Because they know better.

And it kind of irks me when the whites say it because it's a shirking of blame and responsibility, and it's just dishonest.

You kick a guy's ass, it's up to that guy to tell you he's ok, not you.

let me stop and check my watch... hang on... counting down... 3...2...1 DING! Yes! Right on time, we have our participant! Yes, white man?

"I never owned a slave! Why should I have to treat blacks nice?"

Very good! Very good, and predictable question. Thank you.   The answer is that you are still benefitting, like it or not, from the fruits of slavery's labor. Because the white race is still in a position of power and the playing field is still not level. I don't care how much you talk about getting along and how many checks you write to the NAACP and how often you tune in the Cosby show, the problem isn't solved by your hopes and prayers.

Sorry! Wish it was.

I could add: It's also not solved because you're tired of being inconvienced, but I'll not go that far in this rant.

Here's where the problem is solved - when things are equal. Actually equal, not equal because you say they are.

"b-b-b-but Obama is the President...!" I know! Great start, isn't it? Only 130 some-odd years after the end of slavery! Only 40+ years since the Civil Rights Act!

These changes come slow - don't think your wishing and hoping will make them happen. Your ACTIONS will go a long way to moving it along, but speaking as a student of history, I feel safe in saying it's not going to happen in your grandchildren's lifes. Things move slowly. And in a lot of parts of America, they're still teaching hate to each new generation, so... you know...

That's my beef. My spidey-sense goes ape-shit when white people downplay racial inequality in America. Speaking as a white person, let me be the first to say - we don't have a moral leg to stand on in doing that.