How racial satire is a reinforcement of racial attitudes and beliefs

'There are certain queer times and occasions in this strange mixed affair we call life when a man takes this whole universe for a vast practical joke, though the wit thereof he but dimly discerns, and more than suspects that the joke is at nobody’s expense but his own' - Herman Melville, Moby Dick

He is funny, he is smart and he has never apologized to anyone who felt offended by any of his comedy material. Dave Chappelle after his meteoric rise as a comedian and actor signed a deal with the devil and presented to the world a show 'The Chappelle show' But the Chappelle show which presented racial satire and made us laugh(we did) instead was also a vehicle supporting the dominant frame work of whiteness and many of us began to see it as a negative portrayal of the black community through its presentation of mostly African American stereotypes and preconceived notions. The louder laughs of the white audience made it worse. It is one of those shows where the creator’s message is perceived differently by different people and often becomes so misunderstood. Because whenever someone raises material to critique it, they always run the risk of privileging it.

The show

Here it is a black man making racial jokes for a laugh but then he got people laughing mockingly and soon realizes he is the perfect clown for the racists.

So as soon as Chappelle sobered up, got over the euphoria and the cloudy mist of fame cleared over his well paid head, he came to a realization that he was the joke, along with the whole African American community. So racked with guilt over the material that he presented, he walked away and ran off to Africa(perfect). But he did all this without that much needed apology to the community and this has disturbed yours truly for a while now.

I came by Dave Chappelle’s comedy very late, I mean years later and was intrigued and impressed by his sheer genius. I had not encountered a comedian like him before and his was the type of laugh I had been looking for, for a while. So I dig up material after material of this bald comedic genius, going through the endless YouTube tunnel and tried to watch everything there is about Dave Chappelle. During all that I also agree that he is good at guarding his personal life as little comes up about his family and the most I found out is through some acceptance speech for yet another prestigious award.

After knowing a bit of his story and journey and finally unlocking the answer to 'why Chappelle walked away from $50m' I then sought out one more thing, has Chappelle ever apologized for all those sketches that made us laughing fodder for the white audience? The audience that sees the stereotypical images he portrayed as congruous rather than incongruous making his show effectively endorse that which it was trying to challenge.

As for me the 'reparations sketch' woke me up to the realization that the highly rated sketch comedy show pushed the very stereotypes that under-gird racism, which we have been trying to fight all our lives.

Have I found the apology yet? No! but i found many explanations.

You could argue that maybe Chappelle has paid back with some charity and carrying the black message with him everywhere he goes but no, one has got to admit a fault first, apologize for it and then do the make up.