2008 Woodie Awards
Speaker addresses US racial paranoia
Vic Brotzman
Issue date: 2/29/08 Section: Campus
Is racism still an issue in modern American society? While current events might seem to indicate just that, it might not be a black and white issue.
John L. Jackson Jr. spoke on this topic Thursday night in Shideler Hall in his lecture, "Racial Paranoia: What Dave Chappelle Can Teach Don Imus about Contemporary American Society."
In the speech, he argued that racial paranoia and overt racism are not one and the same. The speech was a preview of Jackson's third book on the same topic, Racial Paranoia: Unintended Consequences of Political Correctness, due out in April.
Jackson is a professor of communications and anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania.
During the lecture, Jackson referred to incidents where well-known people were accused of being racists. These incidents included comedians Dave Chappelle and Michael Richards and radio host Don Imus. According to Jackson, these are not examples of racist thinking, but racial paranoia.
According to Jackson, this paranoia includes instances when people are too quick to jump to conclusions and punish a supposed 'racist' without understanding what the true intention was. Often, he said, things can be taken out of context.
Jackson referred to comedian Dave Chappelle's cancellation of his hit Comedy Central sketch program as the best example of this paranoia.
Jackson said Chappelle later explained that his abrupt decision was caused, at least in part, by the sight of one of his white production crew members laughing during the filming of a sketch involving a character in black face makeup.
Jackson said Chappelle believed the crewman was laughing at Chappelle, as opposed to with him.
Jackson compared the incident to the recent controversy involving golfer Tiger Woods and Golf Channel commentator Kelly Tilghman, when she said on-air that the only way to beat Woods would be to "lynch him." Jackson said that in the ensuing public outrage, Woods never took offense to the comment because of his friendship with Tilghman.
John L. Jackson Jr. spoke on this topic Thursday night in Shideler Hall in his lecture, "Racial Paranoia: What Dave Chappelle Can Teach Don Imus about Contemporary American Society."
In the speech, he argued that racial paranoia and overt racism are not one and the same. The speech was a preview of Jackson's third book on the same topic, Racial Paranoia: Unintended Consequences of Political Correctness, due out in April.
Jackson is a professor of communications and anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania.
During the lecture, Jackson referred to incidents where well-known people were accused of being racists. These incidents included comedians Dave Chappelle and Michael Richards and radio host Don Imus. According to Jackson, these are not examples of racist thinking, but racial paranoia.
According to Jackson, this paranoia includes instances when people are too quick to jump to conclusions and punish a supposed 'racist' without understanding what the true intention was. Often, he said, things can be taken out of context.
Jackson referred to comedian Dave Chappelle's cancellation of his hit Comedy Central sketch program as the best example of this paranoia.
Jackson said Chappelle later explained that his abrupt decision was caused, at least in part, by the sight of one of his white production crew members laughing during the filming of a sketch involving a character in black face makeup.
Jackson said Chappelle believed the crewman was laughing at Chappelle, as opposed to with him.
Jackson compared the incident to the recent controversy involving golfer Tiger Woods and Golf Channel commentator Kelly Tilghman, when she said on-air that the only way to beat Woods would be to "lynch him." Jackson said that in the ensuing public outrage, Woods never took offense to the comment because of his friendship with Tilghman.
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