Photo by Alyssa Elso
Alyssa Elso/Staff Writer
Ending racism in about an hour may not be easy to accomplish, but comedian W. Kamau Bell had people thinking about racism and race in a whole new way on Wednesday Feb. 5 after performing his one-man show at Biscayne Bay Campus.
In his one-man show, “The W. Kamau Bell Curve: Ending Racism in About An Hour,” Bell had students laughing and cringing as he covered the touchy topic of race. His presentation providing an honest and straightforward look at what racism is, where it comes from, who is affected and how to stop it.
Bell, who previously hosted his own show on the FXX network, “Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell,” began the night by showing a clip from the year 2005, in which he discusses how a senator named Barack Obama had a name that was “too black” to ever be elected President of the United States.
Nine years later, Obama is now in his second term of office, yet not much has changed in ending racism as Bell gave various examples that blatantly illustrated racism in America.
Bell’s first example discussed how America seems to be more offended by a mixed race family in a Cheerios commercial than by a dog and a horse that appear to be in love, as depicted in the popular Budweiser commercial.
“America would rather see a dog and a horse fall in love than support a biracial family,” stated Bell. “And notice that in the Cheerios commercial the couple is never shot together, they are always in separate frames.”
He also goes on to show racism in the casting of “The Hunger Games” movies after many people took to Twitter to discuss how much they detested the casting of a black girl to play a character that was described as such in the book.
Bell goes on to provide other instances of racism by using the US census. He points out that the term “Arab” is considered white, therefore maintaining his position that race is not real, it is something made up, but it has allowed for racism to be very real.
“I thought he was very funny and the way that he approached the issue of race and racism was engaging,” said Rogihanne Avin, a junior english major.
Not a stranger to racism himself, Bell is constantly judged by people because of his interracial marriage and mixed daughter.
“Whenever I am walking down the street with my daughter or my wife, people tend to give looks,” Bell said.
“Once when I was out with my daughter, being a comedian, when someone looked at me weird I’d give them a look and then start running down the street and they would start yelling like I stole the baby.”
By the end of the night, Bell was encouraging white people to reclaim the idea of “white power” from white supremacists by leading a chant: “I’ll say ‘Say it loud,’ and you’ll say ‘I’m white and I’m proud.’”
Though hesitant, a few people in the crowd could be heard repeating the chant.
And as for a way to start ending racism, he suggests that everyone not ask these two questions to black people about their hair: can I touch it and how do you wash it?
Though attempted, racism cannot be ended in an hour, but in order to do so, Bell encourages everyone to discuss it even though it may make them uncomfortable.
“Racism will not end today, but I hope I can at least encourage people to discuss it with others to change racism in the future,” said Bell.
-bbc@fiusm.com
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