Colbert's "The Word": Blackwashing

[netmouse]

I think people here might find this segment of The Colbert Report of interest. Colbert discusses (mocks) quite eptly the tendency of people to argue that they aren't racist because they know a black person who agrees with them, which reminds me of the Rent-a-Negro.com satire, which in turn makes me think of this GQ column someone posted the link to recently (which is neither satire nor stupid humor, though that doesn't become clear until later in the column).

Colbert hits a lot of points out of the park about what some people have been saying recently about race and politics, and left me feeling disturbingly uncomfortable when he raised the spectacle of blackface near the end. Not completely sure how I felt about that move, actually. Thoughts?

Comments

[atdt1991.livejournal.com]

Occasionally, I think Colbert has a real knack for saying something really uncomfortable when it comes to something really important. I'm sure this was discussed by him and his writers more than anything recently, and they chose to go through with it.

It's weird to say this about an irony-laced show, but I think it came from a genuinely critical place.

Obviously, it doesn't strike me where I live. I don't know how I would feel about it if I were black. I think he is simultaneously denigrating blackface itself and contemporary racist "covers".

I guess I'm trying to say that I think his point was worth bringing up blackface in this manner. He could have really screwed it up, but i don't think he did.